Two days ahead of the IPL 2022 season, MS Dhoni surprisingly stepped down as Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) skipper, passing the leadership baton to Ravindra Jadeja.

The decision, however, isn’t looking good for CSK as of now as they have lost their first two IPL 2022 games under the new captain Jadeja.

While the defending champions suffered a 6-wicket defeat in the tournament opener against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), they lost to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by the same margin in the second fixture.

CSK failed to defend a huge total of 210 against LSG. The decision to hand over the ball to Shivam Dube in the 19th over of the innings proved costly for the side as the all-rounder conceded 25 runs in the over and Lucknow eventually overhauled the target with three balls to spare.

After the game, former India batter Ajay Jadeja insisted that he felt Dhoni was taking the leadership calls in the game instead of Jadeja.

According to Ajay Jadeja, if it was indeed the case then Dhoni was wrong to take over the reins from his successor.

“It is wrong, there is no doubt about that. See, there is no bigger fan of Dhoni than I am, and that's because of his temperament. If this was the last match of the group where there was a do-or-die situation in terms of qualification, then I could've probably understood that you would want to take over the reins because it is an important phase. But if it happens only in the second match of the season..” Jadeja said while speaking on Cricbuzz.

“See, I'm not saying this because it's Ravindra Jadeja. But even as a cricket fan, it looked a little odd. He (Jadeja) was standing right there and you continued to run the whole game. See, Dhoni is a very big player and I don't like saying it out loud. But I didn't like what I saw today.”

Further explaining his point, the ex-Indian cricketer said it might have dragged Ravindra Jadeja back in terms of his confidence.

“There hasn't been a captain like Dhoni nor there will be. But it was his decision to step down as CSK captain and today, instead of pushing him (Jadeja) forward, you have actually dragged him back. His confidence is dented. He wasn't in the game at all,” said Ajay Jadeja.

“I'm not criticising the decisions. I'm being critical of the way he (Dhoni) took over. We noticed Dhoni speaking during the team meeting. There's no doubt Dhoni understands the game better and even CSK fans would be urging him to take over the captaincy again. But I have no doubt that he was wrong in taking over today. If Jadeja was even beginning to feel confident about his captaincy, he won't now.”

Chennai Super Kings will take on Punjab Kings (PBKS) in their next match on Sunday (April 3) at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai.