In a freewheeling chat, Ravichandran Ashwin quizzed his former India teammate Ravindra Jadeja about his captaincy aspirations. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired, India named a new captain in Shubman Gill ahead of the upcoming tour of England. Jadeja started his career under the leadership of MS Dhoni, playing with him at both the Indian team and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He then played under Virat Kohli for an extensive period, helping India reach new heights before the latter decided to step down as captain in 2022.
Then came Rohit Sharma’s tenure with Jadeja being crucial in India’s T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy triumphs.
In an episode which was record before BCCI’s announced the squad for the England tour, Ashwin, on his YouTube channel, asked Jadeja if he ever thought about his aspirations to lead the Indian team.
“Yes, definitely! See, what I feel is that over the years, I have played under different captains. I know the mindset of every single captain that I have played under. Every captain has a different mindset on how he wants to run the team. For example MS Dhoni, I have played under him in every format. His thinking is very simple. If he feels that a batter can hit in that region, he will simply take a fielder there. He wants to make them uncomfortable by not putting a fielder where they can’t hit,” said Jadeja.
Jadeja also explained how captaincy in T20 cricket is much more hectic than Test cricket.
“In Test cricket, you have to change two-three fielder as per the need of the bowler. Captaincy in Test cricket is different. It’s simple, but calculative. It’s not complicated like IPL of T20Is. In T20s, every ball is an event. Test cricket is not that hectic,” he added.
Jadeja had a brief stint as captain of CSK, following Dhoni’s decision to step down from the role. However, his stint was cut short as Dhoni was re-appointed as captain mid-season after a disappointing start to the campaign.
