|| Indian Correspondent ||

While Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opened their IPL 2020 campaign with a win over Mumbai Indians (MI), they lost their second game against Rajasthan Royals (RR) where MS Dhoni’s captaincy and batting raised several eyebrows not only among fans but also among cricket pundits. And, one of them is former India opener Virender Sehwag.

While 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’,” he further added.
Despite having the critical situation of the game while chasing a mammoth total of 216, Dhoni didn’t come to bat at his number 5 slot. Instead, he let Sam Curran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kedar Yadav play before him and came at number 7 which raised several questions about his captaincy as well despite his three consecutive sixes in the final over.

“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.

“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 shared.