Former Indian opener Aakash Chopra believes the captaincy pressure is showing a little on Ravindra Jadeja, who is leading Chennai Super Kings for the first time in his career.
Jadeja hasn’t been able to lead from the front despite all the experience under his belt.
In fact, Jadeja had been in sublime form, especially with the bat in the last couple of seasons but he hasn’t been able to carry the same in the ongoing edition. Jadeja was dismissed for only three runs off eight balls against Mumbai Indians at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Thursday. Furthermore, Jadeja went wicketless but bowled an economical spell.
The left-hander hasn’t been able to deliver the goods as a batter and thus hasn’t been able to lead from the front. Moreover, Jadeja, who is known for his gun fielding, dropped Dewald Brevis’ catch.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Ravindra Jadeja proved very expensive. His bat is not striking the ball at all, he is dropping catches, he is not getting wickets. I mean the captaincy pressure is probably showing a little. It is clear that Jaddu is struggling slightly.”
On the other hand, Mukesh Chaudhary came up with his best bowling figures of 3-19 in the IPL but surprisingly Jadeja didn’t complete his quota of four overs. Furthermore, Dwaine Pretorius bowled only two overs.
“Mukesh Choudhary didn’t bowl his full quota of overs and that was surprising because he had taken three wickets in three overs, get him to bowl the fourth over now at least. Dwaine Pretorius bowled just two overs. It was a bizarre kind of bowling display, on how the overs were distributed.”
Meanwhile, Ruturaj Gaikwad was dismissed for a duck after he had scored a fine knock of 73 runs in the previous match against LSG.
“Ruturaj Gaikwad first-ball duck, what is happening, why so many people are scoring ducks. There is no doubt that there was some life on the pitch. Mitchell Santner was an exact like-for-like replacement for Moeen Ali, he batted at No. 3 and a left-arm off-spinner instead of a right-arm off-spinner in Moeen Ali.”
The renowned commentator reckons Dwaine Pretorius’s knock of 22 runs off just 14 balls was equally important in getting CSK over the line after MS Dhoni once again did the impossible.
“Dwaine Pretorius – 22 runs off 14 balls, we all will talk about MS Dhoni but if he had not hit the two boundaries off Bumrah’s over, the job was not going to be done. Dwaine Pretorius was an equally important protagonist and then MS Dhoni’s class is different.”
CSK will next take on Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Monday.
