After registering a convincing five-wicket win over defending champions Mumbai Indians (MI), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) faced Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. CSK was expected to register a consecutive victory, but they suffered a 16-run loss. As a result, former Indian opener, Virender Sehwag expressed his disagreement with the captaincy of MS Dhoni.
CSK had to bow down against Sanju Samson’s whirlwind knock, they conceded 216 runs in the first innings. The yellow army did try to cruise towards the target but no other batsman apart from Faf du Plessis managed to contribute much. One thing which also raised eyebrows was Dhoni’s demotion in the batting order. Despite being considered as one of the best finishers of the game, the CSK captain had decided to bat down the order after the likes of Sam Curran, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Kedar Jadhav.
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Like many fans, Sehwag was also not happy with Dhoni’s batting position. MSD impressed one and all when he smashed three consecutive sixes in the 20th over but the train had already left the station. Sehwag, not impressed with Mahi’s captaincy against RR as he questioned his decisions during the match and also felt MS didn’t gave his 100 percent in the match.
Speaking to Cricbuzz, Sehwag said, “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.”
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Expressing his opinion on CSK’s batting order against RR, Sehwag said Dhoni should’ve sent Ravindra Jadeja ahead of Kedar Jadhav. Sehwag also pointed out that Dhoni should’ve considered promoted himself up the ranks. He gave Dhoni 4/10 points for the captaincy decisions against RR.
Sehwag elaborated, “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’.”
"MS Dhoni की आज की captaincy को दूंगा 4/10 अंक," @virendersehwag @My11Circle प्रेज़ेंट्स #CricbuzzLIVE हिन्दी पर#RRvCSK #MSDhoni #SanjuSamson #SteveSmith pic.twitter.com/MNnoqR5CZw
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) September 23, 2020
Virender Sehwag further added, “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.”
