IPL 2022: "Didn't seem like a big injury; something is happening" - Sanjay Manjrekar questions Ravindra Jadeja's departure, Ambati Rayudu's Tweet

Former India cricketer and commentator Sanjay Manjrekar suspects "something is happening" behind the scenes at Chennai Super Kings. He thinks that it's reflecting in their form on the ground and recent controversies involving senior players Ravindra Jadeja and Ambati Rayudu.

Jadeja replaced MS Dhoni as the team's leader days ahead of IPL 2022 but stepped down after a disastrous first half. Two matches later, he picked up a rib injury while fielding but continued to play after receiving treatment from the physio.

He missed the next game and was then ruled out of the remainder of the season, with the franchise saying that they didn't want him to "strain it." Although this had raised some suspicions about the timing of the announcement, it didn't get bigger than just social-media gossip.

But more recently, Rayudu, who has been in decent form, tweeted that he was "happy to announce" IPL 2022 as his last season, before deleting the tweet. Super Kings' CEO called it a "mistake," saying he has "explained things" to the batter who is "not retiring."

When asked about the Rayudu saga, Sanjay Manjrekar, talking to ESPNCricinfo, connected it with the Jadeja issue and Super Kings' failure to make a good run for the playoffs. He said Jadeja's troubles "didn't seem like a big injury" on the ground and reiterated that "something or the other is happening" behind the scenes.

"When a team doesn't qualify for the playoffs twice in three seasons, something is happening. There has been no official statement from the outside. Jadeja has become unavailable for the entire season. On the ground, it didn't seem like a big injury. So you can say that something or the other is happening."

Asked to point out on-field reasons for the four-time champions not qualifying into the top-four this season, Sanjay Manjrekar said they lost the plot in the first half.

He explained that opener Ruturaj Gaikwad's form, pacer Deepak Chahar's absence, and Dhoni leaving the captaincy days before the new season were the killer blows. Sanjay Manjrekar also believes that constant changes to the team hurt their prospects.

"First half is where the team solidifies its position in the points table. They took a few blows there - Ruturaj Gaikwad wasn't very consistent, they missed Deepak Chahar a lot, kept on searching a seam bowler and then they lost Dhoni's leadership too. I don't blame Jadeja for that because he was given that leadership. It might have been different had Dhoni led continuously. One more thing that was CSK's specialty was they didn't used to change their team. That has happened only once this year when they had won 1-2 matches. So that winning formula where they used to keep the same team hasn't happened this year."

The Super Kings have just eight points from 12 games. They have a match against Gujarat Titans on Sunday and one against Rajasthan Royals on Friday.

"It doesn't look like a flash in the pan" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Mukesh Choudhary's success

One of the few silver linings for CSK has been Mukesh Choudhary's success. The left-arm pacer from Rajasthan has 16 wickets from 11 games, almost replicating Chahar's success with the new ball.

Sanjay Manjrekar lauded his success as not a "flash in the pan," and praised his skills and temperament.

"It doesn't look like a flash in the pan where he'll perform in just one-two matches because he not only swings the ball, he has the pace, the height, so picks wickets from short of length, can use the bouncer, has good temperament too. After that night where he got hit for a lot of runs and he dropped three catches too, making a comeback like this shows that he has great temperament."

The Super Kings' clash with the Titans will begin at 3:30 PM IST at the Wankhede Stadium.