Chennai’s poster boy, MS Dhoni, is yet to pad up and take to the crease in a live match for CSK. (Pic Credit: X/ChennaiIPL)
Whilst countless await the instance of witnessing the master at play, fans have been devoid of the same as Dhoni is yet to pick up the bat and take to the field in this IPL campaign.
There is no bigger ‘Thala Dharisanam’ (darshan) to attend in the ‘Anbu’-den of Chepauk for the CSK faithful than witnessing ‘Thala’ Dhoni whack one out of the ground.
Whilst countless await the instance of witnessing the master at play, fans have been devoid of the same as Dhoni is yet to pick up the bat and take to the field in this IPL campaign. Through no fault of anyone, but rather the effective functioning of CSK’s batting order, which has been on fire over the past two games.
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With the likes of new skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, tantalizing Kiwi opener Rachin Ravindra and the young gun hard-hitter Shivam Dube firing on all cylinders, Chennai’s batting order have touted themselves as an unstoppable force so far.
While fans eagerly await MS Dhoni’s batting exploits, CSK batting coach and batting legend Michael Hussey shared insights on the team’s batting strategy and also disclosed when the Super Kings would ideally opt to utilise the talisman wicketkeeper’s high-octane batting ability at the crease.
“Well, certainly it’s been a directive from Stephen Fleming (CSK coach) to keep pushing the game forward. As I mentioned with the impact player rule coming up, teams’ line-ups especially the batting line-up keep lengthening up. I think we got MS Dhoni at Number 8, which is crazy you know,” stated Hussey at a post-match press conference after CSK’s dominant 63-run win over Gujarat Titans last night.
“MS Dhoni is batting very well at the moment. Because we have got so much depth in our resources in our batting, the player up the order if they are in two minds can take the positive approach. And they have certainly the backing from coaches and captain. We want to keep playing fast.”
There sure wasn’t much that Gill’s side could do, as the Chennai Super Kings’ batters’ sliced through their bowling attack with surgical precision to notch up a mammoth target of 207.
Skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, opener Rachin Ravindra and middle-order hard-hitter Shivam Dube all clocked in clinical performances with the bat to help CSK soar.
Afterwards, it was time for the CSK bowlers to play their part, as the pace trio of Tushar Deshpande, Deepak Chahar, and Mustafizur Rahman all delivered a masterclass, scalping two wickets each and restricting the visitors to a mere 143 runs in 20 overs.
