Data Shorts - Jadeja's extreme woes against spin

Chepauk has been home to a few firsts this season, mostly with the home team at the wrong end of it. The latest to it is SRH seamers picking up nine wickets in their first win in six attempts against the home team here - the joint most seamers from a side have picked up in an IPL contest there. The only batter to get out to spin in the lineup was Ravindra Jadeja, CSK's new #4.

Jadeja swapped his finisher's hat with Shivam Dube, who was the side's established spin hitter coming into the season but has struggled against it of late. In all, he has batted in the top four only nine times in 134 innings for CSK, six of which have come across the last two seasons and another one in 2022, suggesting this is a move they do only when they are under the pump. The reason for him not getting to bat up top is his mediocre record against spin. Only once in 17 seasons has he managed to score at a 130-plus strike rate against spin - way back in 2014 when he faced just 45 balls of spin. This could be another reason to move him up from the finisher's slot so that he is not paired with MS Dhoni, whose speciality is to hit pace, and not let the opposition bombard them with spin.

#4 is a tough role to fill, given he will rarely get the chance to set the tempo for the game and his approach has to be reactive to the situation. A must-have skillset for this position is to be a good starter against spin, which is underlined by the players donning this role for the top-placed teams this season: Suryakumar Yadav for MI, Rajat Patidar for RCB, Axar Patel for DC, and Sherfane Rutherford for GT. Since the start of 2018 cycle, Jadeja is among the slowest starters against spin, striking at just 88 in his first ten balls against spin. He hasn't been solid either, averaging just 21.22 against slow bowling.

Lowest first 10-balls SR vs spin in IPL since 2018

Jadeja has been equally bad against all types of spin - be it ball turning away or turning in. Against left arm orthodox, the staple positive matchup for southpaws, he barely scores at over a run a ball. Against leg break, the other kind of spin that turns the ball into him, he strikes at 102 and averages only 32.50. Against spinners that turn the ball away, his strike rate is well below 100 and averages 18.40.

Jadeja vs spin types in IPL since 2018

A big reason why Jadeja struggles against spin as compared to most batters is the fact he doesn't score a lots of runs behind square and is easier to set straight fields to him and in order to clear those he has to attack harder. Jadeja sweeps much less than the most, especially the southpaws. While scoring behind square isn't the only way to tackle spin as the likes of Patidar and Heinrich Klaasen has shown with a large chunk of runs scored in front of the wicket, even if comes under the risk of hitting against the spin. The likes of Klaasen attacks 73.4% against his negative matchups (left arm orthodox & leg spin) but the similar share for Jadeja is 46% attacking shots against off spin and left arm wrist spin, the third worst among left-handers in this period.

CSK, the one team that built their success around playing spin and having quality spinners in their ranks, have been the weakest-performing side in the last two editions facing spin. They have been the least-performing side in the Powerplay this season and coming into the middle with spinners often operating from both ends, CSK will be served with a better player of spin at #4 than Jadeja.