Ravindra Jadeja captaincy record: Has R Jadeja led CSK in the IPL?

Ravindra Jadeja captaincy record: The senior all-rounder has been handed the reigns at Chennai Super Kings.

Ravindra Jadeja, undoubtedly one of the best all-rounders across formats in modern-day cricket, will be adding another skill to his repertoire in IPL 2022 season opener between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in Mumbai on Saturday.

A couple of days before the start of what will be his ninth season at Super Kings, Jadeja has been promoted to lead the team. The development has come some four months after Jadeja was retained as the franchise’s first-choice player ahead of Mahendra Singh Dhoni before IPL 2022 mega auction.

Dhoni, who leaves behind a stupendous captaincy legacy, will continue to play as a specialist wicket-keeper batter. In what will be his 15th season of the Indian Premier League, it will only be for the second time when Dhoni won’t be leading an IPL team. Back in 2017, Dhoni had represented Rising Pune Supergiants under Steven Smith.

Ravindra Jadeja captaincy record

Speaking in a video posted by CSK across their social media handles, Jadeja sounded unperturbed despite him needing to “fill big boots”. The 33-year old player remained confident primarily because of the fact that Dhoni would still be there to provide him with on-field suggestions this season.

“Feeling good. At the same time, I also need to fill in big boots like Mahi bhai [MS Dhoni], [he] has already set the big legacy so I need to carry [that] forward. I don’t need to worry too much because he is here so whatever I have a question to ask, I’ll definitely go to him. He’ll be my go-to person. He was and still he is today, so I’m not worried too much,” Jadeja said in the video.

While Jadeja himself possesses of a wide-ranging 200-match (sixth-highest number of matches) IPL experience, it is noteworthy that he has never led an IPL team in the past. Jadeja, who will become only the third captain at Super Kings, has actually never led in any of his 113 first-class, 221 List A and 276 T20 matches in over a decade-and-a-half.

It is worth mentioning that Jadeja had once led an India U-19 team (comprising of Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Tiwary and Abhinav Mukund) against Bangladesh U-19 in Colombo 15 years ago.