Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Tuesday defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Dubai International Stadium in Dubai by 16 runs as fingers were pointed towards MS Dhoni for coming down to bat at number seven despite his team chasing a mammoth 217-run target in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020.
Dhoni promoted the likes of Sam Curran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kedar Jadhav ahead of him but the moves failed piling pressure on the likes of Faf du Plessis and Dhoni later in the batting order. Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has slammed Dhoni for coming to bat so low in the order as he said ‘Thala’ should be leading his troops from the front.
Gambhir further lashed out at Dhoni for reading the game wrong as he said those last three sixes in the last over were of no use for CSK and they were all personal runs.
Makes no sense to me: Gambhir on Dhoni batting at No. 7
“I was a bit surprised to be honest,” Gambhir said in ESPNCricinfo’s T20 Time Out. “MS Dhoni batting at No. 7? And sending [Ruturaj] Gaikwad before him, Sam Curran before him. Makes no sense to me. In fact you should be leading from the front. And this is not what you call leading from the front. Batting at No. 7 when you’re chasing what… 213 [217]? The game was over. Faf was probably the lone warrior.
“Yes, you can talk about MS Dhoni’s last over [when he hit three sixes], but it was of no use to be honest. It was just all personal runs.”
“There is nothing wrong if you end up getting out early, at least start leading from the front, trying t inspire the team as well.”
Dhoni after putting his hopes on singles and doubles, freed his arms in the final over but it was too little too late for Super Kings as they needed more than 36 runs to win in the final over. Gambhir, speaking of Dhoni’s intent, said other captains, in place of Dhoni, would have received a lot of flak.
“See, if someone else would have done this, some other [batsman] captain had batted No. 7, he would have got a lot of flak. It is MS Dhoni – probably why people don’t talk about it,” Gambhir said. “When you don’t have Suresh Raina, you’re making people believe that Sam Curran is better than you. You’re making people believe that Ruturaj Gaikwad, Curran, Kedar Jadhav, Faf du Plessis, M Vijay, all these guys, are better than you.”
Chennai Super Kings have won one while losing their other contest in their two matches so far in IPL 2020. (wionews.com)
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