Jadeja walked out, was upset at CSK captaincy being taken away. MS Dhoni had ‘long frank chat’ with all-rounder: Report
Ravindra Jadeja seems to be all set for Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign and he has appeared frequently in the franchise’s social media posts.
The ace India all-rounder seems to be all smiles in the photos and videos but it wasn’t too long ago that Jadeja’s future with CSK was up in the air after a debacle of a 2022 season in which the team went through a series of defeats under his captaincy.
Jadeja had been made captain just two days before the start of the season last year and the team went on a horror run under him, culminating in them crashing out of contention for the knockouts for just the second time in their IPL history. He was sacked from the post, which was promptly handed back to MS Dhoni, who has famously been their skipper since the first season of the IPL and led them to four league titles, apart from reaching the playoffs in all but one season prior to 2022. Jadeja was dropped from the squad citing an injury for the last few games of the season.
It was reported that Jadeja had, in fact, walked out of the team hotel during the later stages of the season. According to Cricbuzz, the 34-year-old then had a “long, frank chat” with Dhoni and CEO Kasi Viswanathan and the ‘air of misunderstanding’ between all parties was cleared. Jadeja reportedly opened up to Dhoni and Viswanathan on “what irked him” and what he expected in the future.
The trio had two one-on-one sessions in which Jadeja reportedly stated that he was upset over a couple of factors. The first was that the captaincy was taken away from him and the second was that he was not being able to perform at his best. Usually one of CSK’s most potent players with bat, ball and in the field, Jadeja scored 116 runs at an average of 19 and claimed five wickets at an economy rate of 7.52. Cricbuzz further reports that the position of captaincy may have ended up burdening him and affected his performance. Jadeja stayed back after India’s third and final ODI against Australia and joined the CSK camp. CSK will start their campaign against defending champions Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on March 31, the season-opener.