The rumours of a possible rift between Chennai Super Kings and Ravindra Jadeja have intensified after the franchise unfollowed the player on Instagram on Wednesday. The franchise has already released the marquee all-rounder, who was ruled out of the rest of the tournament due to a rib injury.

Earlier this season, CSK appointed Jadeja as their captain for the Indian Premier League 2022. It didn’t augur well for the Super Kings, who suffered six defeats in their first eight matches. Jadeja’s own form took a massive dent, and he was unable to contribute with either bat or ball.

Halfway through the tournament, Jadeja was relieved from the role that seemed to weigh heavily on him, and MS Dhoni was brought back at the helm.

The franchise maintained that Jadeja himself stepped down from the role to focus on his game. “Ravindra Jadeja has decided to relinquish captaincy to focus and concentrate more on his game and has requested MS Dhoni to lead CSK,” read the statement.

Chennai did show immediate improvements under Dhoni’s captaincy, but Jadeja’s form remained indifferent. In 10 matches, the Saurashtra all-rounder has managed 116 runs and picked up just five wickets. Then a rib injury sustained during a game against Royal Challengers Bangalore compounded his misery. 

However, mid-day reported that Jadeja stormed out of the tournament because he was unhappy with the CSK management for removing him from captaincy in the middle of the tournament. 

CSK CEO Kashi Vishwanathan, however, reiterated that Jadeja has been released purely on the medical ground. He said: “What I can tell you is that from the management side, there has been no problem and whatever is there on social media, I’m not aware”.

Viswanathan also added that the all-rounder will continue to hold an important place in the CSK’s plans for the future. 

However, as per Indian Express, “some of Jadeja’s team-mates hinted at a discord, as they spoke to this paper on condition of anonymity. According to them, Jadeja wasn’t too pleased with the way the captaincy change was handled. Those in the know say that the all-rounder felt the process lacked transparency.”

Here’s how fans reacted on Twitter:

(Featured Image Credit: Twitter)