Follow Us"Bits-and-pieces.”
Back in 2019, one commentary bit almost burned down the entire nation.
Sanjay Manjrekar, who was on air during the 2019 ODI World Cup, termed all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja as a ‘bits-and-pieces’ player. Years later, when you look back at the statement, you might have to say that Manjrekar wasn’t all wrong.
Jadeja doesn’t quite fit the mould of a traditional all-rounder, particularly in the shortest format of the game. He’s not a bowler you can consistently rely on for four overs, nor is he a middle-order batter who regularly rescues a team in distress. He occupies a tricky middle ground between the two roles.
And, when you look at the Indian Premier League (IPL), those performances are perhaps not worth the INR 18 crore CSK paid for him. It might be if you are going to add the emotional value (IPL 2023 final), but not if you purely look at the value he adds, either with the bat or the ball.
This isn’t meant to be overly critical. Jadeja is one of the few all-rounders to have been part of the IPL since its inception in 2008. Yet, as the years have progressed, his overall impact has arguably not kept pace with the tournament’s evolving demands.
Get this right: across 17 seasons of IPL where he’s played, Jadeja has never amassed the 300-run mark in any season. He doesn’t bat in the top four, so expecting 300 runs from a batter lower down the order is crazy, right? Well, not really.
Since the start of IPL 2020, where Jadeja started having a more central-figure role for CSK, his best year with the bat has been the 2020 season - 231 runs @46.2 and SR of 173.7. There have been 27 instances of batters (No.5/6/7) having scored more runs than Jadeja’s best campaign. TWENTY SEVEN!
But isn’t Jadeja a finisher? Shouldn’t strike rate matter more than total runs? Here’s the catch: since 2020, his strike rate as a lower-order batter has been 146.8.
28 batters in similar positions have posted higher strike rates during this time, suggesting he’s not among the elite in this regard either.
The issue isn’t with just any of these factors; it is more about what Jadeja the batter can offer CSK now. Jadeja is 36, and there’s no real indication or proof that he will learn how to swat spin at this age. And that's a real problem.
Opposition immediately turn to spin when they see Jadeja. Over the last five years, the left-hander has had the second-lowest strike rate (93) for a batter against spin, only behind MS Dhoni’s 83, which is why their batting together makes it worse for CSK.
Could it be a specific struggle against off-spin? That might be easier to excuse, but Jadeja’s numbers against favourable matchups—left-arm spin, left-arm unorthodox, and leg-spin—are equally troubling. Since IPL 2020, he’s struck at 98.6 against leg-spinners and a mere 87.1 against left-arm spin. These aren’t minor hiccups; they’re glaring weaknesses for a batter with his experience.
Compare this to Dhoni, who, despite his own struggles against spin (strike rate of 83), has adapted impressively against pace, boasting a strike rate of 217.39 in recent years. Jadeja, in contrast, manages just 151.95 against pace at the death—underwhelming for a player in his 16th IPL season.
This again begs the question, how has he been one of India’s best all-rounders over the past 15 years without upgrading his game?
You remember when CSK won their last IPL title? 2023 season.
It is the only season in Jadeja’s entire IPL career that he has taken 20 wickets in a season. He wasn’t just good; he was EXTRAAA GOOD, with an economy of just 7.56.
When Jadeja performs at that level, CSK becomes nearly unbeatable. But when he’s off his game, he’s neither a consistent wicket-taker nor an economical option.
In IPL 2024, the problem resurfaced when the left-arm spinner picked up just eight wickets, averaging a staggering 46.12 with the ball. But his form across the board for India would have convinced CSK and the management that they hit the lottery with his retention.
However, the reality has been far from different.
While Noor is currently the Purple cap owner, with nine wickets, and Ashwin is the second spinner, Jadeja’s impact has been diminishing for the Super Kings. The left-arm spinner has picked up just one wicket in three games thus far in IPL 2025 and averages 68.00.
Admittedly, Ashwin has been very poor by his high standards as well, going at an economy of 9.90, but the Tamil Nadu man has been put in some really uncomfortable situations by Gaikwad. The CSK captain threw him up against two right-handers in the powerplay against both RCB and MI, and then against an elite off-spin basher in Rana, once again the powerplay, against RR. Jadeja, in contrast, has exclusively bowled in the 7-15 phase and yet has been sub-par despite 2 of the 3 games being at Chepauk.
In the clash against RCB, it was evident that RCB batters wanted to target the weakest link of CSK’s bowling, with both Devdutt Padikkal and Rajat Patidar smashing him for 15 runs each across the two overs he bowled. On a surface where Noor ended up with figures of 3/36, Jadeja ended with figures of 3-0-37-0.
Over the last two IPL seasons, Jadeja has not bowled his complete quota of four overs on nine occasions out of the 17 games. Even when he’s bowled the complete quota of four overs, only on four occasions has it come away from home - Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Hyderabad and Dharamsala, with one of them being a favourable venue for spin.
If you look at it microscopically, the left-arm spinner has only bowled 17.3 overs against left-handers (50 average), which shows how much Gaikwad has rated him and how his bowling is now merely a match-up tool.
The fact that he’s been producing such numbers despite bowling almost all his overs in the middle-over phase is bamboozling. It suggests that Jadeja is no-longer a reliable, go-to man for CSK in the middle-overs.
And ultimately, that’s where CSK’s problem lies: Jadeja the batter has not caught up with the evolving game, while Jadeja the bowler has turned into someone that can only be used in very specific situations.
So, the next time you think a 43-year-old walking out in the 16th over is CSK’s problem, think again about the INR 18 crore signing.