Dhoni came to bat after Ravichandran Ashwin.
Virender Sehwag has taken a jibe at MS Dhoni, who has been facing ample criticism for batting at No.9 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB). Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) MS Dhoni came to bat even after Ravichandran Ashwin. He had an opportunity to promote himself and give CSK a shot at winning.
On Cricbuzz, the anchor asked Sehwag’s opinion on Dhoni’s batting position, to which Sehwag made a humorous remark, exclaiming he came to bat early. Later, he explained that the former CSK captain doesn’t promote himself and comes only in the last two overs.
“He came early, no? Only 16 overs were done when he came, but usually, he comes in the 19th or 20th over. So, he came early. Either he has come early, or his batters lose wickets early. He and his team have decided that MS Dhoni will face only a few balls, and he is doing that. Now it’s up to you to get our early or late; he will come in the 17th or 18th over only.”
Sehwag is not pleased with Dhoni’s usage, for he feels the veteran can come early and let his bat do the talking. He eventually scored 30 runs in 16 balls, including three boundaries and two maximums, but those runs meant nothing since they came in a losing cause.
While MS Dhoni’s demotion in the previous seasons was understandable due to his knee issues, he has recovered and hasn’t shown signs of regression. That means he can now come early in the batting order and provide his useful hitting abilities in the lower middle order.
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As was visible in the last game, he still has the power to bat briskly. He has a better technique against pacers than Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja. So, CSK must be more precise with his entry points and ensure he faces more balls than he has been to maximise his batting value.
But if Dhoni doesn’t want to bat up the order, he shouldn’t play now that he is not the captain. There’s no room for specialist wicketkeepers in this modern-day T20. Since teams have an extra batter in IPL, CSK can’t carry Dhoni like they have in the last few seasons.
That Dhoni provides views and crowd entertainment shouldn’t be a cover for his faulty usage or over-protection. Anything coming at the expense of winning games shouldn’t be entertained if CSK want to regain its glory.
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