Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lost their 2nd match of IPL 2020 against Rajasthan Royals by 16 runs on Tuesday. Chasing a mammoth target of 217 runs, CSK batters except Faf du Plessis failed to impress on wicket that appeared to be a paradise for batsmen.
Faf du Plessis (72 off 37) at one point of time was fighting a lone battle as wickets kept on falling from the other end. Fans and experts were surpsied to see MS Dhoni not coming up the order despite the asking rate surging up to as high as 20. MS Dhoni walked in only after the dismissal of Kedar Jadhav.
“The three sixes that MS Dhoni hit in the last over made it feel like CSK came close to the target, but the reality was something different. In the middle, it looked like Dhoni wasn’t even trying to chase the target considering the number of dot balls he played,” said Sehwag.
The former Indian captain in the post match conference said that he took the call of coming down the order because of his long absence from professional cricket. Notably, MS Dhoni returned to action after 437 days of hiatus.
MS Dhoni launched 3 consecutive sixes in the final over but failed to take his team past the winning margin.
Former India opener Virender Sehwag has criticised MS Dhoni for his ‘strange’ decisions and given 4 points out of 10 for hs captaincy in the match against Rajasthan Royals (RR).
“I feel Dhoni could’ve batted higher up or even sent Ravindra Jadeja to bat after Sam Curran got out. The run-rate slowed down in the middle overs. If that hadn’t happened and about 20-22 runs were required to win in the last over, the three sixes that Dhoni hit would’ve made people say ‘wow, what a finish’,” the 41-year-old told Cricbuzz.
“If over 30 runs are required, those three sixes wouldn’t make a difference. I think Dhoni could’ve batted over Kedar Jadhav at least. The number of balls Jadhav played, had Dhoni been the one facing them, CSK wouldn’t have finished with the deficit of 17-18 runs that they did,” he further explained.
“Even while CSK were fielding, Dhoni’s captaincy had some strange decisions. He continued giving overs to Jadeja and Piyush Chawla despite them leaking runs. The four overs that CSK’s spinners bowled to Sanju Samson, put the game in Rajasthan’s favour,” Sehwag highlighted.
“Dhoni then brought Lungi Ngidi who dismissed Samson a then Chawla was brought back into the attack. In his final two overs, Chawla only conceded 8 runs. This shows that Dhoni should’ve made these changes earlier,”Sehwag added.