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From Gautam Gambhir to Kevin Pietersen, cricket pundits and fans across the globe have criticised Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper, MS Dhoni, for his lack of intent while chasing a massive 217-runs target against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 4 of IPL 2020.
Dhoni promoted the likes of Sam Curran and Kedar Jadhav above himself when the match was slowly getting away from the grasp of CSK.
The Ranchi-lad came after Jadhav’s dismissal in the fourteenth over and initially dealt with only singles and doubles. Dhoni’s conservatism riled up many CSK fans since the required run-rate was rising steeply.
He smashed three consecutive sixes off Tom Curran in the last over, but the match, by then, was already sealed in favour of RR.
In an interview given to Cricbuzz, former India opener Virender Sehwag spilt beans on the whole incident. Sehwag said that it looked like the former India skipper wasn’t even trying in the middle.
“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,” said Sehwag.
‘I feel Dhoni could’ve batted higher up’: Sehwag
Sehwag felt that Dhoni should have come higher up the order and stated that slowness in the middle overs snatched the game away from CSK.
“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’,” Viru added.
The 41-year-old further remarked that ‘Captain Cool’ made some bizarre decisions while managing the bowlers in the first innings. The latter persisted with both Piyush Chawla and Jadeja even when the duo was leaking too many runs.
“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,” concluded Sehwag.
