Captaincy is 90 percent luck and 10 percent skill. But don’t try it without that 10 per cent, Richie famously said.
It’s not yet known which part of the equation Ravindra fell foul of at Chennai Super Kings before relinquishing the job, handing the reins back to Mahendra Singh. But judging by what happened in Pune on Sunday evening, it’s clear that the latter is not short of either luck or skill.
Now, Ravindra is a player with vast experience at the international level, though he has done precious little captaincy even in domestic cricket. Nevertheless, he was considered the heir apparent of MS, who is winding down his playing career. CSK is considered a loyal franchise, not prone to trigger-happy decisions. But it seems a record of two wins in his first eight games in charge got to Ravindra himself, more than anyone else.
Chennai Super Kings, four-time Indian Premiere League champions and the winners last year, are known to get the best out of players who may be rejected as too old by other franchises. But the squad assembled for the 2022 season seems lightweight in comparison to those from earlier editions. There is still some way to go in this season, but just maybe it was a season too many for the youngsters like Shivam have not delivered with consistency on the promise of earlier seasons. As a result, neither CSK’s batting nor bowling sports a formidable look, which is more to do with what happened at the mega auction in February than on the field of play.
MS has always been active in offering advice to Ravindra and other bowlers, as well as fine-tuning field placements from behind the stumps (with Ravindra being one of the best outfielders in world cricket, he often spends a lot of time near the boundary), so regardless of the win against Hyderabad, to expect that putting him back in the formal leadership role will result in a long winning streak may be a bit far-fetched.
The league has experienced captains like Rohit Sharma, Kane Williamson on one hand, with the likes of Rishabh Pant, Agarwal, KL Rahul, and Shreyas Iyer relying more on inputs from the coaching staff. All the players in the latter category made their international debuts long after Ravindra’s, so if they are deemed to be doing a satisfactory job – according to the team management, franchise owners and officials – it may hurt Ravindra’s ego even though relinquishing captaincy is said to be his own call.
But he can take heart from several top all-rounders having cut a sorry figure when the burden of captaincy was thrust on them. Ian Botham and Andrew are names that readily come to mind (though one has to wait and watch how Ben Stokes does after being anointed England Test captain). Maybe, with the responsibility of setting fields and making bowling changes taken away from him, Ravindra will contribute more with both bat and ball, in a season which has not gone to plan till now. The statement released by the franchise says the change at the helm has been affected to allow Ravindra to focus on his own game. One doesn’t know what effect it has on his captaincy credentials going ahead.
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