Jadeja says leaving CSK was emotional but part of journey

Ravindra Jadeja said leaving CSK after over a decade was emotional but part of his journey. Now with Rajasthan Royals, he spoke about adapting to a new team, his bowling strategy in Guwahati, and the key dismissal of Shivam Dube.

Hyderabad: Ravindra Jadeja, playing for Rajasthan Royals this IPL season, says he is liking the pink colour and that the yellow had started to feel a bit old.

“But I’m just joking. Obviously, leaving a franchise like CSK, where I had played for 12-13 years, was a little difficult initially. It was very emotional. But I told myself that changes like these are also part of the journey,” Jadeja said during a special show on JioHotstar.

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“The good thing is that I’m now with the team where I had first won an IPL title. That memory has always stayed with me, that after the Under-19 World Cup, I started my IPL career there and won the title in my very first season,” he said.

“I have carried those memories along with a positive mindset, and my aim is to learn as much as I can with the new group and also share my experience with the team,” Jadeja said.

On the Guwahati wicket and adjusting his line to get the big wicket of Shivam Dube in Monday’s match, Jadeja said: “The wicket was a bit sticky, so it suited my kind of bowling. My job was simply to bowl in the right areas. When you hit the right areas on a wicket that is holding up slightly, the ball tends to grip and come slower, which feels good as a bowler.”

“Getting such a surface to bowl on in the very first match boosts your confidence as a bowler. I was thinking of bowling it at the stumps, as I wanted to take a chance in case he didn’t middle it,” he said.

“But when he hit me for a six, I quickly changed my strategy to bowling wide, as he would have kept hitting me on a straight line. So, I decided to finish on the fifth-sixth stump line, thinking that if he went across, he might not get his timing right, and that is what happened. Luckily, he did not get the elevation he was looking for, and it was a big wicket for us,” Jadeja explained.

On his gun-firing celebration after getting Shivam Dube out, Jadeja said: “When I played for CSK, I used to celebrate similarly, so it was my ‘to be continued’ moment. A batter like Dube does not give you any room for error and tries to hit big shots from the first ball.”

“That was in my mind, but my main aim was to get him out because his wicket at that time would have probably ended their hopes, given that only bowlers were to follow next and there was no other hard-hitter in the line-up,” Jadeja said.