Chennai Super Kings and India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the remainder of the IPL 2022 due to a rib injury, his franchise confirmed on Wednesday (May 11).
The 33-year old picked up the injury while attempting a catch after running in from the deep during CSK’s match against Royal Challengers Bangalore on May 4. While he continued playing that game, Jadeja sat out Super Kings’ last match, against Delhi Capitals on Sunday.
“Ravindra Jadeja reported a bruised rib and was unavailable for Chennai Super Kings’ game against Delhi Capitals on Sunday. He was under observation and based on medical advice he has been ruled out for the rest of the IPL season,” CSK said in a statement.
Official Announcement:
Jadeja will be missing the rest of the IPL due to injury. Wishing our Jaadugar a speedy recovery! @imjadeja
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) May 11, 2022
Rift between Jadeja and CSK management
If reports are to be believed then Jadeja has pulled out of the remaining IPL 2022 not because of the injury but due to his fallout with CSK management.
“Yes he has a injury, no doubt about it. But it is also true that all is not well between Jadeja and CSK management. Things have not been normal since he was unceremoniously dumped as captain. He felt let down and wasn’t his usual self after that”, a source in the CSK camp told Insidesport.
CSK unfollows Jadeja on Instagram
The rumours of the rift have increased after reports claimed that the CSK has unfollowed Jadeja on Instagram.
However, as per Insidesport, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan denied any fallout between CSK and Jadeja and said, “He is injured, nothing else. No one from the management side is unhappy with him. He, unfortunately, is injured and that’s why we decided to let him go”.
When asked why CSK Social handles have unfollowed Jadeja, Viswanathan said, “I don’t have any idea. I am not at all into social media.”
MS Dhoni not happy with Jadeja?
Dhoni publicly spoke about how the pressure of captaincy was affecting Jadeja’s game. “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.
Dhoni added: “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.”
Jadeja in IPL 2022
Among the fittest players in cricket, Jadeja is going through one of the most challenging phases of his career. He was handed the CSk captaincy two days before IPL 2022 began.
While accepting the captaincy role, Jadeja said he had “big boots” to fill, but he was confident as Dhoni was still around and would continue to be his “go-to man”. However, eight matches into Super Kings’ season, he stepped down, saying he wanted to focus more on his game. Notably, Super Kings had won two of those eight matches under Jadeja, before Dhoni took the reins back.
The added pressure and demands also had a massive impact on Jadeja’s individual performance during this IPL season. Jadeja scored 116 runs in ten innings at an average of 19.33 and a strike rate of 118.36. With the ball, he has five wickets from 33 overs at an average of nearly 50 and also dropped four catches during fielding.
Road ahead for CSK
Defending Champions CSK are currently ninth on the points table with eight points from 11 games. To qualify for the playoffs, they need to win all their remaining games and hope other results go their way.
The MS-Dhoni led side will face Mumbai Indians in their next match at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday.
