Batting great Brian Lara said MS Dhoni’s inability to finish matches for Chennai Super Kings at Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 is puzzling, calling for changes in their batting line-up for the remainder of the season.
Chennai Super Kings slipped to their 4th defeat of the season when they imploded in a chase of 168 despite getting to 90 for 1 at the end of 10 overs. CSK had Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu doing at full tilt but the wicket of Rayudu turned things around.
MS Dhoni, who had been criticised for not batting higher up the order earlier in the season, got himself in at No. 4. He walked in when CSK needed 68 from 47 balls but the CSK skipper was a shadow of his former self, struggling to get the much-needed boundaries.
Between the 11th and the 15th over, CSK managed just 20 runs during which they also lost Watson for 50. Dhoni took 12 balls for his 11 runs and made a blunder by sending out-of-form Kedar Jadhav ahead of the likes of Dwayne Bravo and Ravindra Jadeja. Jadhav took 12 balls for 7 runs in an uninspiring batting effort after blocking his first 3 balls even as the asking rate was shooting up.
CSK needed 26 runs in the final over and Ravindra Jadeja’s fireworks proved too late. Birthday boy Bravo was watching his team implode from the dugout as one of the finest finishers in the shortest format didn’t get an opportunity to bat. CSK made just 47 runs in their last 30 balls despite losing only 2 wickets.
Lara says CSK must use finishers Bravo, Jadeja better
“It’s a bit puzzling (Dhoni inability to finish). You feel that he has created that position where he can be flexible with himself but I think he needs to maybe look at some other players,” Brian Lara told Star Sports during a post-match analysis show.
“They have played a couple of games where Dwayne Bravo, an all-rounder, hasn’t had an opportunity to bat. Scoring 58 runs in 10 overs but only losing 10 wickets, something is wrong.
“He is a great finisher, no doubt about that. But things are not going right for him and I believe, some of the other players, look at Jadeja how he batted today, he came in when their chances were very slim. So, something he will have to work on, have a steadier stuff.
“They were cruising after 10 overs. You got 90-odd on board. It was unbelievable,” Lara said.
CSK are at the 5th spot on the points table, having won only 2 out of their first 6 games. They might have to win at least 5 of their next 8 games to be in contention for the play-offs spot.
Meanwhile, captain MS Dhoni conceded that they had to find ways to keep the scoreboard moving when KKR bowlers were putting the brakes on in the final overs, blaming the middle-order’s effort for their defeat.
“Rotation of strike was important, but I think there were hardly any boundaries in the final few overs, so we need to be innovative at the end when they are continuously hitting a back of a length. That’s where we need to adapt better with the bat and I don’t think we did that” Dhoni said.