“He has taken over from a God”: Michael Vaughan on Ruturaj Gaikwad taking Captaincy from MS Dhoni

Michael Vaughan feels Ruturaj Gaikwad is struggling in captaincy.

Former England captain Michael Vaughan reckons new Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad has been struggling to fill the massive shoes of MS Dhoni in IPL 2024. Vaughan used the analogy of legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson to explain the awkwardness that Gaikwad might be facing and to imply his ideas in a team where Dhoni is present as a player.

He spoke about the difficulty Ruturaj is facing in his captaincy.

Speaking to Cricbuzz after CSK’s win over the Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday, April 8, Michael Vaughan shed light on why he felt Ruturaj Gaikwad was under pressure as MS Dhoni’s heir: “He has taken over from a god. This situation feels like Sir Alex Ferguson is still in the dressing room when the new manager comes in. MS Dhoni is still there. It must be so hard. It is difficult to captain MS, but I think it is MS who took that decision to step aside.”

CSK won against KKR with seven wickets in hand.

After two back-to-back losses, Chennai managed to get their IPL 2024 campaign back on track with a comfortable seven-wicket win over KKR. Ravindra Jadeja (3/18) was the Player of the Match for his sensational bowling performance. All the bowlers bowled really well.

Michael Vaughan’s advice for Ruturaj Gaikwad

Michael Vaughan understands that with the crowd flocking in to watch MS Dhoni play, it might get a bit intimidating for Ruturaj Gaikwad. However, he wants the young CSK skipper to focus on his primary skill of batting and score a truckload of runs. He believes Gaikwad’s confidence will skyrocket with a string of big scores.

He advised him to focus on his batting.

“I am yet to see Ruturaj look completely in control in the middle. The only advice I would give him is to focus on getting as many runs as you possibly can. If he can do that, I think his team will be in a better position, and that’s the only way he can get that feel-good factor if the team wins,” Vaughan explained.

Ruturaj showed some form in the last inning.

Ruturaj Gaikwad was finally among the runs in the IPL 2024 season as he remained unbeaten on 67 (58) and comfortably took his team over the line in the chase. He ensured that the chase was not difficult for them to achieve. This inning was very much required for him, as his confidence would have risen after this inning. Before this, he had a string of low scores. He scored his first fifty as captain of CSK. The team management and fans are expecting him to carry this form. The Men in Yellow would be hopeful that this is the start of an upward curve for their newly-appointed skipper with the bat.

Kevin Varchand

​