The Rajasthan Royals have totally convinced CSK with their arguments concerning the player release of Ravindra Jadeja, as the RR boss Manoj Badale has pointed out that Ravindra Jadeja was the one who was looking forward to working with the Royals, a team that has already seen him back in 2008 when he made his IPL debut.
Jadeja is indeed one of those cricketers who have been part of the IPL since the very first season, which is the one that marks the beginning of tournament’s history.
He was among those draft picks by the Rajasthan Royals in the first-ever IPL and was dubbed ‘rockstar’ by the former RR captain and title-winner Shane Warne.
At the moment Jadeja is with the Indian team in the West playing the longest format match against South Africa. He has called it quits for T20 internationals and has represented four franchises over his IPL career.
Ravindra Jadeja’s switch back to the Rajasthan Royals was a shared decision between him and CSK
Looking back at his early days in the IPL as a budding cricketer, Ravindra Jadeja was just a 20-year-old all-rounder for the Rajasthan Royals in 2008 and played a key part in their winning of the title.
He departed from the franchise and move to Kochi Tuskers Kerala in 2011, and during IPL 2012 mega-auction, he was acquired at such a high price by the then two-time champions, CSK. After completing ten years of his stay with CSK, on the 15th of November, he was once again part of Rajasthan Royals.
The parting of ways with Jadeja roused a bit of criticism of the CSK management. Nevertheless, initially, the CSK CEO and now the owner of Rajasthan Royals have both disclosed that it was a joint decision and was made with Jadeja’s consent.
Manoj Badale unveils a great secret about the transfer of Ravindra Jadeja
The owner of Rajasthan Royals, Manoj Badale, declared that it was Ravindra Jadeja who had approached him a month back and expressed his desire to come back to the franchise. He first made his mark with Royals and later became an international star with the Indian team.
“About four weeks ago, around mid-October, Jaddu called me and said he was feeling great about coming ‘home,’ as he put it—which means back to where he began his IPL career, and truly speaking, where his cricket journey and the whole Indian audience got to know him.”
“Over the months, we have had quite a few interactions. The last time I saw him, he was 21, so it’s been interesting getting to know the ‘older’ version of Ravi Jadeja,” said Badale in an interview with RR’s YouTube channel
Badale elaborated that Sam Curran should not be overlooked and that the two players would surely share some of the roles in the team.
“I’m going to say the following very clearly: it wasn’t just a single trade of Jadeja only. It was a trade of the duo of Jadeja and Sam Curran. The other part must not be ignored. The duo and their combined filling up of the three to four roles we require for the next season—that was the reason it was so enticing,” said Badale.
Jadeja’s performance with his previous team—Rajasthan Royals
Ravindra Jadeja has an unbelievable record in IPL, especially since he has been with CSK. He has a total of 3260 runs in more than 250 matches in IPL with an average of 27.86 and a strike rate of 130. The amazing all-rounder has also taken 170 wickets and has bagged 109 catches.
He has been part of the Rajasthan Royals team and has played 27 matches across two seasons, scoring 430 runs in the Royals setup. He has also taken 6 wickets for them, though he did not get many chances with the ball. He might be the new leadership option of RR as well.
