"He has taken over from a God"- Michael Vaughan believes Ruturaj Gaikwad is feeling the heat of being MS Dhoni's successor at CSK
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 to imply his ideas in a team where Dhoni is present as a player.
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 is 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."
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.
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 Gakwad's confidence will skyrocket with a string of big scores.
"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 (via the aforementioned source).
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.
The Men in Yellow would be hopeful that this is the start of an upward curve for their newly-appointed skipper with the bat.