Chennai Super Kings CEO Kasi Viswanathan had dismissed the rumours of any rift between skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja. The Chennai-based franchise lifted their fifth IPL triumph with Jadeja playing a blinder of a knock in the final against Gujarat Titans. Meanwhile, Dhoni once again managed his resources well throughout the tournament despite all the injury crises in the camp. In the middle of the season, the rumours of Jadeja’s alleged rift with Dhoni fired up after the former posted a couple of cryptic posts on Twitter.
While Dhoni was also seen having an animated chat with Jadeja after the Delhi Capitals clash which added fuel to the fire.
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However, CSK CEO has now quashed all the rumours. He suggested that Jadeja might have got a bit hurt by the audience for their constant chants of ‘We want Dhoni’ when he used to bat above MS, but he never had any animosity with the skipper.
“As far as Jadeja is concerned, he bowled superbly,” Viswanathan said. “While batting, our line-up of Ruturaj, Conway, Moeen, Rahane, with the results, whenever he [Jadeja] went in to bat, he had 5-10 balls left. In such situations, it can or can’t click sometimes. But the thing is he also knew Dhoni was to come in next, and he himself would get just 2-3 balls sometimes. In such situations whenever he went in, the crowd used to welcome Dhoni. In a way, he may have felt hurt. Any player for that matter may have had that pressure. But he didn’t complain about it even though he put out a tweet,” Viswanathan told ESPN Cricinfo.
He further said that he never had any discussion with Jadeja about the alleged rift and said that the southpaw has huge respect for Dhoni which is the reason why he dedicated the IPL trophy to him.
“It’s all part and parcel of the game. After the last game, people saw videos online and assumed I’m pacifying Jadeja, but it wasn’t like that. I was talking to him about the match, what he did. We didn’t have any other discussion. Everyone knows in a team environment, what happens in the dressing room, no one is privy to it outside. We don’t have any problem. He always had high respect for Dhoni. After the final also, he said, ‘I dedicate this knock to Dhoni.’ That is the kind of respect he has for MS,” he added.
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