In the aftermath of Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s 50-run loss to rivals Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), former captain MS Dhoni’s batting order has sparked a big debate. Dhoni, who came out to bat at no. 9, hit an unbeaten 30 off just 16, but his knock had no relevance as RCB cruised to a crushing win. While Dhoni has limited his batting time over the past few seasons, in terms of the amount of deliveries he faces, fans and experts were not happy with the 43-year-old batting behind the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran and Ravichandran Ashwin.
In hindsight, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference even if Dhoni had walked out to bat at no. 8.
However, former India batter Virender Sehwag poked fun at Dhoni during a discussion on Cricbuzz. Sehwag joked that the CSK legend came out to bat early as he generally prefers to bat in the last two overs of the innings.
“Jaldi aa gaye na (He came out to bat early),” joked Sehwag, whose response sparked a laughing riot.
“We were talking about this that maybe he will walk out to bat at No.10,” former India batter Manoj Tiwary, who was also part of the discussion, added.
“When he came, 16 overs were bowled. Usually, he comes in the 19th or 20th over, so he came out to bat early, didn’t he? Either he came out to bat early, or his batters lost wickets far too quickly,” Sehwag added.
In the end, Dhoni gave something back to his fans, who had been cheering every time a wicket was falling, only to catch a glimpse of the CSK legend. He struck three boundaries, and slammed two towering sixes in the final over off Krunal Pandya.
On Friday, Dhoni surpassed Suresh Raina to become the highest run-getter for CSK. Dhoni has a total of 4699 runs in the 204 innings, which has come at an impressive average of 40.50 and a strike rate of 139.43. On the other hand, before retiring from the sport, Raina went on to score 4687 runs in 171 innings.
The other players on the list are Faf Du Plessis (2721 runs in 86 innings), skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (2433* runs from 67 innings), and Ravindra Jadeja (1939 runs off 127 innings). Gaikwad and Jadeja are still playing for the franchise, whereas Du Plessis has joined Delhi Capitals as vice-captain for the ongoing season.
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