And yet two balls was all he got to face today owing to Dhoni batting nearly one-fourth of the innings. Only a game ago he struck 32* off 15 balls, blasting from the get-go without taking balls to get his eye in.
Jadeja is currently in the midst of his best ever IPL season as a batsman, averaging 70.66 and striking at 152.51. But the least they can do is bat him below Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo (or Sam Curran), both of whom are in sensational striking form. Of course, that doesn’t mean that they bat him at No.10 or No.11. But such is the quality and depth in this CSK batting line-up that they can afford to use Dhoni as a specialist wicket-keeper and captain they have the luxury of carrying Dhoni the batsman. There is no question that Dhoni is well past his best days as a batsman, and his knock today was evidence of the same. It is that the management seem hell-bent on utilizing his batting when there’s absolutely no need. For 27 balls, it felt like he was in the midst of a scrappy net session.īut the problem for CSK is not that Dhoni is no longer the batsman he once was. He found no rhythm, couldn’t time the ball at all, was not able to rotate strike effectively and did not accelerate either. And as the business end of the tournament gets closer and closer, it will be imperative for sides to learn from their mistakes and be aware of their own shortcomings and areas of potential weakness.ĬSK no longer need MS Dhoni the batsman - he is inhibiting their potentialĪs unfortunate as it may seem, the harsh truth is that MS Dhoni’s innings proved to be the difference between the two sides - and not in a good way.ĭhoni managed to score just 18 off the 27 balls he faced, and failed to hit a single boundary. There were not too many positives to take away from the game for either side, on the batting front at least, but there were warnings. The absurd ‘non no-ball’ call in the final over almost served as the icing on the cake.Īll said and done, though, today’s clash in Dubai will be a match that both CSK and DC will look back on. It was one of those ‘so bad that it was actually good’ matches where, more than the actual contest between two teams, it was moments of chaos, controversy and comic relief that fulfilled you, the fan. For 39.4 overs, neither side looked like they wanted to win the game. The Chennai Super Kings - Delhi Capitals clash delivered the entertainment it promised, but not in the way any of us expected.
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