Ravindra Jadeja on Saturday (April 30) relinquished Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) captaincy, handing it back to MS Dhoni, the franchise confirmed in a statement.

Dhoni has accepted to lead CSK in the larger interest and to allow Jadeja to focus on his game. Apparently, the decision was taken on Saturday evening.

"The team management has conveyed this to us and we have accepted," CSK CEO Kasi Viswanathan told Cricbuzz.

Two days ahead of the IPL 2022 season, Dhoni had decided to step down as captain, passing the leadership baton to Jadeja.

However, the move didn’t work out well as the defending champions struggled badly under Jadeja. They are currently occupying the 9th spot on the points table with just two wins out of 8 matches.

The captaincy also affected Jadeja’s performance as the all-rounder has scored just 112 runs and picked 5 wickets in the tournament so far.

While the decision to leave captaincy seemed to be done on mutual grounds, reports in Cricbuzz have indicated that Jadeja was perhaps forced to relinquish the role due to his poor showing with bat and ball.

“The management cannot be silent that the world’s best all-rounder is not performing to his best. Obviously, he is weighed down by the burden of captaincy. He even started dropping catches,” a CSK insider quoted as saying.

Chennai Super Kings will face Sunrisers Hyderabad in their next match at MCA Stadium, Pune on Sunday (May 1).

(With Cricbuzz inputs)