After Chennai Super Kings bagged their first win of the campaign against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, CSK captain Ravindra Jadeja admitted that he still has a lot to learn in terms of captaincy. The 33-year-old said that he still goes to the senior players for advice and will keep “picking their brains” in order to keep learning from them.
Jadeja had recently come under a lot of criticism regarding his captainship duties for the Chennai team in the 15th edition of the IPL 2022 after losing four games at the start of the season. The cricket fans were starting to think that the dominance that CSK possessed was diminished after their long-term captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni decided to transfer the responsibilities to Jadeja.
However, thanks to Robin Uthappa (88) and Shivam Dube’s (95*) fantastic first innings display, the Chennai Super Kings managed to bag their first win in 5 games against the high-flying Royal Challengers Bangalore by 23 runs.
Uthappa and Dube’s fast-paced batting was much needed after their opening duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad (17) and Moeen Ali (3) were sent back to the pavilion pretty early. The 3rd wicket partnership helped the team to gain some momentum and led to a mammoth total of 216/4 in 20 overs. The CSK bowling contingent managed to then restrict their former teammate Faf du Plessis’ side to 193 runs which led them to victory in the ‘Southern Derby’.
CSK captain Ravindra Jadeja expressed his views after his first victory as captain and said “As a captain, I am still picking the brains of the senior players. Mahi (Dhoni) bhai is there, I always go to him and discuss. I am still learning and trying to get better with each game.” The 33-year-old all-rounder was one of the key players in the 2nd innings as he managed to pick up three important wickets at the expense of 39 runs.
“We have plenty of experience in our dressing room. Experience comes into play, we don’t panic early. We try to keep ourselves calm, we back ourselves and we look to play positive cricket. We’ll look to push hard, we’ve got the momentum and now we will look to continue,” Jadeja added about the experience factor of their team.
He further added, “I would like to dedicate it to my wife because the first victory is always special.”
“As a team, we came good. As a batting unit, everybody did a good job. Robbie (Uthappa) and Shivam (Dube) batted brilliantly. The bowlers contributed with the ball as well.”
Both Dube and Uthappa were quick to admit that their scintillating performance on the night was credited to the fact that the team was in urgent need of a win. The urge to win brought out the best in the two players against RCB. Dube scored an unbeaten 95 off 46, while Uthappa scored 88 off just 50.
“We were looking for the first win and I am really happy that I contributed for the team. It’s an honour for me to contribute to a win. I am more focused this time and focusing on basics. I spoke to many seniors. Mahi bhai also helped me to improve the game,” Shivam Dube said after his impressive performance.
“He said just be focused, just be still, just let the skill work in the game.’ More than hitting straight, I just wanted to time the ball really well wherever I hit. I tried to maintain by balance,” He added
Dube said that the former Indian cricketing star Yuvraj Singh was the player he looked up to as his role model and added that the 28-year-old is ready to bat in any position his team asks him to.
“Yuvi pa (Yuvraj) is always a role model for a left-hander. Many people told me that I bat like him. As the situation demands, as the captain and coach tell me, I am ready to bat anywhere.”
“Not much conversation with him, he has been hitting the ball well, I made sure to build a partnership with him and rotated the strike. When Maxwell came in to bowl his third over, I felt it was the time to take him on even though it was the bigger boundary. An off-spinner bowling, so I decided to take him on.
“When the spinners were bowling, I tried to feed him (Dube) as many strikes as possible because he can hit big sixes. When the pacers were back on, I told him to give me the strike back.” Uthappa spoke about his batting strategy during the record 73-ball 165-run partnership.