"Brave Call By Ravindra Jadeja": Former BCCI Chief Selector To NDTV As MS Dhoni Returns As Chennai Super Kings Captain

Ravindra Jadeja suprised all on Saturday evening by reliquishing the Chennai Super Kings captaincy to make way for former captain MS Dhoni to return to the helm of the defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions. Dhoni had given up CSK captaincy ahead of the IPL 2022 to make way for the younger Jadeja. However, the results were far from rewarding. In the first eight matches, Jadeja was able to lead CSK to only two wins. CSK are at the ninth spot in the 10-team league and faces the possibility of not qualifying for the playoffs.

In an official statement, released by CSK, it was said Jadeja wanted to concentrate on his own game. "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 said.

Talking on the development, former BCCI chief selector MSK Prasad told NDTV that the free-spirited Jadeja must have felt the pressure of captaincy too much to handle.

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"I think he must have thought that his individual performance was getting affected dure to the captaincy role. If you see his performances in the last few years, it has been on the rise. At this stage of his career, Jadeja might not have wanted the additional responsibility of captaincy to affect his game," Prasad, who was the BCCI chief selector from September 2016 to March 2020, told NDTV.

"Knowing the person that Jadeja is, he wants to play freely. He might have felt that the game should not be affected due to captaincy. I think it's a brave call that Jadeja has taken so that he can contribute to the team's case more as a player. It requires courage to give up