Chennai Super Kings brought back Mahendra Singh Dhoni as their captain after Ravindra Jadeja stepped down from the role to focus on his game, the Indian Premier League (IPL) giants said yesterday.
Former India captain Dhoni led Chennai to their fourth IPL title last year but stepped down before the start of the current season.
Dhoni, 40, who had captained Super Kings since the IPL began in 2008 - bar the two years when the franchise was suspended in the wake of the 2013 spot-fixing case - handed over to Jadeja at the start of the 2022 season.
Super Kings, the defending champions, have since won two games in eight, and sit at No 9 out of ten teams on the points table.
Jadeja was put in charge despite his lack of captaining experience at the senior level and Chennai’s title defence appears in tatters after two wins in eight matches under the all-rounder.
“Ravindra Jadeja has decided to relinquish captaincy to focus and concentrate more on his game and has requested M S Dhoni to lead CSK,” the franchise said in a statement.
“M S Dhoni has accepted to lead CSK in the larger interest and to allow Jadeja to focus on his game.”
Overall, out of 213 games as Super Kings captain across the IPL and now-defunct Champions League T20 (CLT20), Dhoni has recorded 130 wins and 81 losses - and six title triumphs (four IPL, two CLT20).
Jadeja, 33, took over having had little experience leading at the top level: his only previous stint in charge in representative cricket was for India Under-19s, in a series in 2007. He had not captained a senior team full-time prior to this.
Jadeja is now recognised as one of the top all-format allrounders, but in Super Kings’ poor start to defending the trophy they won at IPL 2021, his form has taken a hit: he has 112 runs in eight games at 22.40, with a strike rate of 121.73, and five wickets at 42.60 with an economy rate of 8.19.
This, as against 1592 runs overall for Super Kings at 26.53 with a strike rate of 136.41, and 114 wickets at 28.61 and an economy rate of 7.75. In the previous two seasons, especially, Jadeja’s batting form for Super Kings had soared: 459 runs at an average of 57.37 and strike rate of 157.73, as he seemed primed to take over the finisher’s role from Dhoni.
Chennai are currently ninth in the 10-team tournament and face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next match today.