The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are a team known for their camaraderie and their iconic nicknames. MS Dhoni, the legendary captain who steered the franchise to countless victories, is revered as “Thala” by the CSK fans. Suresh Raina, meanwhile, is fondly called “Chinna Thala“. But Ravindra Jadeja, the star all-rounder, had been missing a signature title despite his immense contributions to the franchise.
This all changed after a stellar bowling performance against KKR. Jadeja’s spell of 3/18 was instrumental in CSK’s convincing win. After some chatter at the post-match presentation ceremony, the official CSK X (formerly known as Twitter) handle bestowed upon him the title of “Cricket Thalapathy“.
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“Thalapathy,” meaning commander in Tamil, perfectly captured Jadeja’s growing leadership role within the team, both on and off the field. This tweet sent fans into a frenzy, celebrating Jadeja’s well-deserved recognition.
“My title isn’t verified yet” Jadeja’s words that ultimately led to his nickname
Prior to CSK’s tweet, it was Jadeja who reminded the Chennai faithful that his nickname hasn’t been ‘verified’ yet. After receiving his Player of the Match award, Harsha Bhogle asked Jadeja if it is now time to give the star all-rounder a title of his own. Hearing this, the 35-year-old replied, “My title hasn’t yet been verified, so I need to ask someone to verify. Hopefully they’ll give me verification [laughs].”
It was after this very response that CSK took to their social media account to ultimatley announce Jadeja’s nickname as the ‘Thalapathy’.