IPL 2022: Ravindra Jadeja was appointed CSK captain after MS Dhoni stepped down from the position but former India coach Ravi Shastri said that “a player like Jadeja should focus on his cricket”.
Chennai Super Kings have endured a torrid start to IPL 2022 season, having lost all four of their matches so far this season. Without a single point in IPL 2022 season, the defending IPL champions are languishing at the bottom of the IPL points table. Following CSK’s loss to SunRisers Hyderabad on Saturday, former India coach Ravi Shastri said that the team made a mistake in letting go of South Africa star Faf du Plessis. Shastri also feels that a player like Ravindra Jadeja should focus on his cricket.
Ahead of the start of IPL 2022, MS Dhoni gave up the captaincy of the team with Ravindra Jadeja taking over. Shastri said that if Dhoni “didn’t want to captain the side, then Faf should have become the captain”.
“I believe, a player like Jadeja should focus on his cricket. If Chennai think about it again, they should have not let Faf du Plessis go because he is a match winner and played a lot. If Dhoni didn’t want to captain the side, then Faf should have become the captain and Jadeja should have played as a player. Because he (Jadeja) can then play freely, no pressure of captaincy,” Shastri said on ESPNcricinfo show ‘T20 Time Out’.
“Things could have been different for Chennai,” he added.
Nothing has gone right for CSK this season. Last season’s Orange Cap winner Ruturaj Gaikwad has been woefully out of form while other players too are struggling to make their mark.
New recruit Shivam Dube is the team’s current top-scorer with 112 runs season with Robin Uthappa (106 runs) a close second.
On the bowling front too CSK have struggled. Dwayne Bravo is the team’s top wicket-taker this season with six scalps to his name but he has gone at an economy rate of 8.48. Dwaine Pretorius is second with four wickets but the South African was dropped from the playing XI for the match against SRH.
Jadeja has just a solitary wicket to his name while the likes of Mukesh Choudhary have been smashed for plenty by the opposition.
CSK are not the only team not to win a match so far this season. Record champions Mumbai Indians too are winless in the four matches they have played so far.
Next up for CSK are high-flying Royal Challengers Bangalore who outclassed Mumbai Indians in their previous match.