"Ravindra Jadeja might have thought about leaving CSK for captaincy opportunities elsewhere" - Aakash Chopra
Former cricketer Aakash Chopra feels that Ravindra Jadeja might have wanted to leave the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of IPL 2022 in search of a captaincy opportunity with some other IPL team.
Speaking on his YouTube channel on Thursday, Chopra suggested that Gujarat Titans could have appointed local star Jadeja as their IPL captain 2022 if he had left the southern franchise. However, he decided to stay with the franchise and was ultimately rewarded with the leadership post with MS Dhoni stepping down.
"Ravindra Jadeja might have thought about leaving CSK, considering that Gujarat Titans might have made him the captain, as he is the local boy," he said. "But he decided to stick with Chennai. It is going to be very interesting because there are already a lot of new captains. But for CSK, whosoever is the skipper, Dhoni will be the one at the helm."
Speaking about Jadeja taking over the reins of the Super Kings from MS Dhoni, Chopra highlighted that the southpaw will take some time to get used to the position. He believes that Dhoni's presence will benefit him as he will have the proven leader's guidance for this year's cash-rich league.
"Just like any other captain, Jadeja will also take some time to get used to the post," he said. "But he has MS Dhoni to guide him. Initially it was CSK's MS Dhoni, but it then became MS Dhoni's CSK."
Watch the full video here:
Chennai will lock horns with Kolkata Knight Riders in the opening fixture of IPL 2022 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 26. It will be a rematch of last year's final.
Check out the updated IPL point table here.
Chennai Super Kings squad for IPL 2022
Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, Shivam Dube, Chris Jordan, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Adam Milne, Subhranshu Senapati, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, K.Bhagath Varma, C.Hari Nishaanth, N. Jagadeesan, K.M. Asif, Tushar Deshpande, Simarjeet Singh.