Former India captain Virender Sehwag believes that Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni made some ‘strange decisions’ during the Indian Premier League contest against Rajasthan Royals on Tuesday. Dhoni demoted himself lower down the order in the batting order, and even though he struck three sixes in the final over, it was too little, too late, and CSK lost the match by 16 runs.
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.
“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’,” the 41-year-old added.
READ | RR vs CSK: MS Dhoni gets upset after umpire reverses dismissal decision - WATCH
“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,” he further explained.
{{/usCountry}}“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,” he further explained.
{{/usCountry}}“Even while CSK were fielding, Dhoni’s captaincy had some strange decisions. He continued giving overs to Jadeja and Piyush Chawla despite them leaking runs. The four overs that CSK’s spinners bowled to Sanju Samson, put the game in Rajasthan’s favour,” Sehwag said.
“Dhoni then brought Lungi Ngidi who dismissed Samson a then Chawla was brought back into the attack. In his final two overs, Chawla only conceded 8 runs. This shows that Dhoni should’ve made these changes earlier,” the former India opener opined.
“He had two ‘glitches’ in his captaincy against RR. First in terms of making spinners bowl to Samson and second in terms of his batting position. If I have to rate Dhoni’s captaincy today, I will probably give him a four out of ten,” Sehwag asserted.
CSK will next take on Delhi Capitals on Friday.