MS Dhoni became the talk of the town after he came to bat at number 9 and failed to step up with the bat despite being in form in most of the games in the IPL 2024. While many raised questions about his fitness, many questioned his approach as well. However, the CSK franchise has now come up with the answer.
“We’re managing his workload,” says Stephen Fleming. “It’s risky and we’ve seen that early on in the season with a little bit of muscle injury, that if he bats too long, we run the risk of losing him. So we’re trying to find that balance where he can have an impact on the match by just hitting sixes and fours, which he’s done pretty well and keep as well as some of the best in the competition, if not the best in the competition.”
While the CSK coach has ruled out any injury to MS Dhoni, as it is being speculated, he insists that the veteran keeper-batter would not be asked to bat where he would have to stay at the wicket for too long. He also answered Harbhajan Singh’s comments where he said CSK would be better off having a bowler than Dhoni at No. 9.
“So don’t underestimate his influence on the team just because he comes in at number nine. There’s a timing aspect, but we’re very wary of what he can give us and we will max that out, but we don’t want to max it out where we lose him. So it’s a delicate balance. We’ve said earlier on that when he recovered from knee surgery last year, which was quite debilitating for him, there was going to be a certain workload this year that he could manage. Now, one of our challenges is that we’ve got a good backup keeper, but he’s no MS Dhoni and we want to keep MS Dhoni on the field, doing what he does best, which is the last two, three overs, four overs with the bat and his keeping and his ability to share tactical advice with the new captain is really important. So we’re valuing some other things,” Stephen Fleming said.
“I’ve told you, there’s nothing there in terms of small muscle injury ages ago, but it’s only become news now. Yeah, he can run. He’s not going to bat for a long period of time, so finding that point, keeping is fine. He’s very economical with his movement, so he can keep in his hands and his hand-eye [coordination] and speed is as good as any. So no problem with that. We’re just guarding against him, batting for five or six overs, having to sprint every couple of balls. So it’s a specific role that we’re using him for,” Fleming concluded.
