Ravi Shastri believes that things could have gone better for Chennai Super Kings if Faf du Plessis had remained in the lineup. Shastri also stated that giving du Plessis the captaincy would have let Ravindra Jadeja to play more freely, which may have made a difference.
Chennai Super Kings has had a poor start to the IPL 2022 season, losing all four of their matches so far. CSK have retained Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, and Ruturaj Gaikwad ahead of the mega auction for this season.
Many were surprised to see that Faf du Plessis was not retained, despite the fact that he has considerable of history with the team, having scored 2722 runs in 86 innings at an average of 35.4.
Ravi Shastri on Faf du Plessis
According to Ravi Shastri, if MS Dhoni was considering stepping down as captain of the Chennai Super Kings, the club should not have released Faf du Plessis and instead should have transferred the baton to him. According to the former India head coach, this would have allowed Dhoni’s replacement, Ravindra Jadeja, to play freely, and “things could have been different for Chennai” this IPL season.
“I believe, a player like Jadeja should focus on his cricket. If Chennai thinks about it again, they should have not let Faf du Plessis go because he is a match-winner and played a lot,” Shastri said.
MS Dhoni was the team’s captain until last season when he opted to step down two days before the start of the current season.
Despite having no experience in the role, Ravindra Jadeja was given the captaincy. He has captained India’s U-19 team in 2007, but captaining CSK would be a huge test for him. The team has yet to win in the competition and is going through a difficult time under Jadeja’s leadership.
Shastri believes du Plessis would have been a terrific captain and that things would have been different if he had been in charge.
“If Dhoni was thinking of giving up the captaincy, then Faf should have been given the job, and Jadeja should have continued as [just] a player. He would have played freely, without the pressure of captaincy. Things could have been different for Chennai then,” he added.
