CSK's Instagram handle unfollows Ravindra Jadeja amid rumours of rift, CEO Kasi Viswanathan reacts

IPL 2022: After sustaining a rib injury, Ravindra Jadeja will exit the bio-bubble and be heading back home, but there may be more to the story that what meets the eye. CSK's Instagram handle unfollowed Jadeja, triggering rumours of a possible rift between the franchise and the star all-rounder.

Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja on Wednesday was released from the squad following a rib injury sustained during the IPL 2022 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Jadeja will exit the bio-bubble and be heading back home, but there may be more to the story that what meets the eye. CSK's Instagram handle unfollowed Jadeja, triggering rumours of a possible rift between the franchise and the star all-rounder. However, if CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan is to be believed, Jadeja was released purely on medical grounds.

Ravindra Jadeja was ruled out of remainder of IPL 2022 due to a rib injury.  (CSK)

"Social media, I absolutely do not follow anything. I have no knowledge of what is going on there. What I can tell you is that from the management side, there has been no problem and whatever is there on social media, I'm not aware. Jadeja firmly remains in the CSK's scheme of things for the future, always," Viswanathan told Indian Express.

"Jaddu had an injury during the game against RCB and after that he didn't play the game against Delhi Capitals. On medical advice, it has been decided that he cannot participate further in this IPL and he is heading back home. He has been released."

The IPL 2022 season has been rather topsy-turvy for Jadeja. Months ago, Jadeja was the first retained player by CSK for ₹16 crore, and two days before the tournament began, it was announced that MS Dhoni has handed over CSK's captaincy to Jadeja. However, the all-rounder's lack of captaincy experience was visible as he often relied on Dhoni for a lot of decisions, including field placements etc. And the fact that defending champions CSK lost the first five matches of the tournament, coupled by a massive dip in the all-rounder’s form with the bat and ball led to an inevitable call – Jadeja handing over captaincy back to Dhoni.

CSK have unfollowed Ravindra Jadeja on Instagram. 

"Ravindra Jadeja has decided to relinquish captaincy to focus and concentrate more on his game and has requested MS Dhoni to lead CSK. MS Dhoni has accepted to lead CSK in the larger interest and to allow Jadeja to focus on his game," a press released by CSK read.

A report in IE states that certain some of Jadeja’s teammates indicated at a fallout between as they believed that Jadeja wasn’t happy with the way the matter of captaincy was handled. Dhoni himself openly spoke about how Jadeja felt 'burdened' by the responsibility of captaining the side.

"I think Jadeja knew last season he would be captaining this year. For the first two games, I oversaw his work and let him be later. After that, I insisted he would take his own decisions and responsibility for them," he had said at the post-match presentation, after CSK's 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. "Once you become captain, it means a lot of demands come in. But it affected his mind as the tasks grew. I think captaincy burdened his prep and performances."

More importantly, CSK missed having Jadeja at his peak as the all-rounder managed to score 116 runs from 10 matches and picked up five wickets. Viswanathan though believes that Jadeja is very much in CSK's plans and mentioned that every great player goes through a dull patch.

"See, if you look at it, many of the great Indian players are also going through a tough period in this IPL. Form is temporary, class is permanent. Maybe, the captaincy weighed a bit heavy on him, but we didn’t want to lose Jadeja, the player," Viswanathan said.