In a shocker of a news, Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja was on Wednesday ruled out of rest of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 due to rib injury which came right after giving up the team's captaincy mid-season owing to his side's debacle in the ongoing cash-rich league.
Meanwhile on Thursday right before the clash between CSK and MI, Chennai's skipper MS Dhoni has finally opened up on Jadeja's ouster from IPL 2022 and said that it's hard to replace someone like Jadeja as he allows the team management to play different combinations based on situations.
"If you see somebody like Jaddu, the kind of potential he has. It's not about a player. There are certain players that allow playing certain compositions. You can work around the combination depending on the situation. He's definitely someone who helps us try different combinations. Not to forget his fielding. I don't think there is anybody who can replace him," Dhoni said at the toss in CSK's match against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday.
Jadeja was appointed the CSK skipper ahead of the start of the 15th season of the cash-rich league but he decided to hand it back to Dhoni after the yellow brigade lost six out of 8 matches under his leadership.
While the official reason being given for Jadeja's unavailability is injury, sources tracking developments in the CSK camp claimed that the all-rounder has been dropped.
"It seems there is more to it. Jadeja has also unfollowed CSK on instagram," an IPL source earlier said on conditions of anonymity.
The CSK CEO when asked about Jadeja's decision to unfollow the franchise on social media, didn't want to read too much into it.
"I have no clue about all this stuff like instagram and twitter and so I won't be able to tell you much about these things," the CEO said.
However, talking about the match, MI on Thursday snuffed out defending champions CSK's faint hopes of making the IPL play-offs with a five-wicket win in a low-scoring match here.
Opting to bowl, MI shot CSK out for 97 with pacer Daniel Sams (3/16 from 4 overs) running though the MS Dhoni-led side's top-order with three quick wickets in a fiery opening spell, and then huffed and puffed to overhaul the small target of 98 with 31 balls to spare.
