Dhoni returns as skipper as Jadeja steps down

Decision taken to allow Jadeja to focus on his game, say defending champions CSK releaser

Eight games were all it took for MS Dhoni’s decision to hand over the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja at the start of IPL 2022 to unravel. On Saturday evening, CSK announced that the all-rounder will hand the leadership back to Dhoni for the remainder of the season. (IPL 2022 Full Coverage)

Ravindra Jadeja; MS Dhoni

CSK, who won their fourth Indian Premier League (IPL) title on Dhoni’s watch last season, are languishing at ninth in the 10-team tournament this season with just two wins in eight matches.

“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,” the statement from CSK read.

Jadeja has been struggling with bat and ball this season. In eight matches, he has scored 112 runs at an average of 22.4 and strike rate of 121.74, well below the numbers he had racked up in the previous two years. In 2021, his 227 runs came at a strike rate of 145.51 with a highest score of 62*. He was even more destructive in 2020, hitting 232 runs on the sluggish surfaces of United Arab Emirates (UAE) at a strike rate of 171.85.

With the ball too, he has under-performed. Five wickets in eight games aren’t what you expect from your premier spinner, especially when he has also been conceding runs at 8.19 per over. If ever an indication was needed that all wasn’t right with the 33-year-old, it perhaps came last week when he spilled a couple of chances in the field against Mumbai Indians.

Jadeja had never captained at the senior level before this IPL season and it can perhaps be said now that the move to give him the reins wasn’t thought through. Given that Dhoni had led an ageing team to the title last season even when he wasn’t making a lot of runs himself, it was hard to fathom why the 40-year-old wouldn’t be putting to use his shrewdness as leader.

Before the start of the season, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan said that they were not worried about Jadeja’s lack of leadership experience because Dhoni would be around. “There will be no problem because MS is also going to be there on the field of play. Dhoni knows how to handle it (the transition) and will be there for guidance,” Viswanathan had said.

As it turned out, Dhoni was occasionally calling the shots. During the defeat to Lucknow Super Giants in their second game, for instance, Jadeja seemed to have little involvement in the ball being given to Shivam Dube for the 19th over.

“It was a high-scoring game. Deep midwicket is an area where there are chances for catches. We needed a good fielder there,” Jadeja, who fields in the deep during the slog overs, later explained. “So, I was not able to communicate that much with the bowlers. Mahi bhai gives inputs. He has so much experience. We don’t need to look elsewhere for advice.”

The decision to now hand the captaincy to Dhoni again suggests a lack of options at CSK. With the wicketkeeper-batter turning 41 in July and unlikely to carry on beyond 2022, it is apparent that CSK will have to find another skipper once this season ends.