Ravindra Jadeja admitted it was an emotional moment to face Chennai Super Kings for the first time after over a decade with the franchise, as the star all-rounder marked a memorable return to Rajasthan Royals, helping the inaugural IPL champions register a convincing eight-wicket win in their IPL 2026 opener in Guwahati on Monday.
Jadeja, who returned to the Royals in a high-profile trade that also saw Sam Curran join RR and Sanju Samson head the other way, admitted the change after 12–13 years with CSK was not easy to process.
“I’m liking the pink colour. The yellow had started to feel a bit old, but I’m just joking. Obviously, leaving a franchise like CSK, where I had played for 12-13 years, was a little difficult initially. It was very emotional. But I told myself that changes like these are also part of the journey. The good thing was that I’m now with the team where I had first won an IPL title,” Jadeja told JioStar.
“That memory has always stayed with me, that after the Under-19 World Cup, I started my IPL career there and won the title in my very first season. I have carried those memories along with a positive mindset, and my aim is to learn as much as I can with the new group and also share my experience with the team,” he added.
Jadeja made an immediate impact with the ball as Rajasthan Royals restricted CSK to 127, paving the way for a comfortable chase led by a blistering knock from teenage opener Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.
Reflecting on the conditions in Guwahati, the left-arm spinner said the surface worked perfectly for his style of bowling.
“The wicket was a bit sticky, so it suited my kind of bowling. My job was simply to bowl in the right areas. When you hit the right areas on a wicket that is holding up slightly, the ball tends to grip and come slower, which feels good as a bowler. Getting such a surface to bowl on in the very first match boosts your confidence as a bowler.
“I was thinking of bowling it at the stumps, as I wanted to take a chance in case he didn’t middle it. But when he hit me for a six, I quickly changed my strategy to bowling wide, as he would have kept hitting me on a straight line. So, I decided to finish on the fifth-sixth-stump line, thinking that if he went across, he might not get his timing right, and that’s what happened. Luckily, he did not get the elevation he was looking for, and it was a big wicket for us,” he added.
One of Jadeja’s key breakthroughs came when he dismissed Shivam Dube, a moment that halted CSK’s hopes of a late surge. The experienced all-rounder said the wicket was crucial given the match situation.
“When I played for CSK, I used to celebrate similarly, so it was my ‘to be continued’ moment. A batter like Dube doesn’t give you any room for error and tries to hit big shots from the first ball. That was in my mind, but my main aim was to get him out because his wicket at that time would have probably ended their hopes, given that only bowlers were to follow next and there was no other hard-hitter in the line-up,” he said.