Ravindra Jadeja out of IPL with injury but fans feel CSK 'dumped' him

At 9:08 PM on Wednesday (May 11), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) announced on its Twitter handle that its all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been ruled out of the remainder of IPL 2022 due to an injury. But fans were not ready to believe this “official” version.

“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,” read CSK’s statement.

Also read: Jadeja bows down to Dhoni

CSK’s Twitter post captioned the official statement as “Jadeja will be missing the rest of the IPL due to injury. Wishing our Jaadugar a speedy recovery!”

Soon after this, speculations started on social media that Jadeja was “dumped” by the CSK management and he had exited the bio bubble to return home. Adding fuel to the speculations and rumours was CSK unfollowing the star all-rounder on Instagram.

There were media reports that Jadeja had a “tiff” with the CSK management and stormed out of the tournament. However, CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan has denied all the rumours and reports and asserted that he is still in the team’s plans for next season.

It had been a rough ride for Jadeja in IPL 2022. Two days before the start of the season, he was announced as CSK’s captain to take over from MS Dhoni. However, things did not go well as CSK’s form dipped and just after two wins in eight matches, Jadeja decided to hand over the captaincy reins back to Dhoni.

In 10 matches of IPL 2022, Jadeja managed only 116 runs and took just five wickets. According to the franchise, he gave up captaincy to concentrate on his game. “Ravindra Jadeja has decided to relinquish captaincy to focus and concentrate more on his game & has requested MS Dhoni to lead CSK. MS Dhoni has accepted to lead CSK in the larger interest & to allow Jadeja to focus on his game,” CSK said on April 30.

📢 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

On May 4, the 33-year-old Jadeja got injured while attempting a catch against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He was unavailable for the next match on May 8 against Delhi Capitals (DC) due to the injury. With three games remaining, CSK has to win all and hope for other results to go in its favour to have a chance of making the playoffs.

If you look at Jadeja’s Twitter and Instagram handles as of today (May 12), he is not following anyone. He has over 4 million followers each on both platforms.

Former India opening batsman Aakash Chopra commented on Jadeja’s injury and felt that CSK might not sign him up for the next season.

“Jaddu (Jadeja) won’t be there for this match. But I am getting a thought that maybe he won’t even be there next year. This happens in the Chennai camp that you don’t exactly know what has happened to the player when he is injured or gets dropped. A similar thing happened to Suresh Raina in 2021. After some games, they suddenly left him out,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.

Jadeja has been a key member of the CSK franchise since 2012. He was one of the four players retained head of this season. He was the team’s first pick at Rs 16 crore. But the recent events don’t augur well for his future at Chennai.

As rumours continue, they can only be put to rest by Jadeja himself. Will he speak or choose to ignore it? Let us wait and watch.