‘Bowler Bats at No.9, Not a Player Like MS Dhoni’: CSK Legend Asked to Take More Responsibility After ‘Hard to Understand’ Strategy

CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress / ITDC News Bhopal: Chennai Super Kings may have beaten Punjab Kings to take another step towards securing a playoffs berth on Sunday evening but there strategy to bat MS Dhoni way low down the order despite the defending champions losing their specialist batters early has raised eyebrows.

Dhoni walked in to bat at no. after the dismissal of Shardul Thakur in the 19th over of the CSK innings at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala. However, unlike previous occasions when the legendary captain has produced impactful cameos, this time he was out for a golden duck by Harshal Patel.

Considering the form Dhoni has shown in his previous outings, the likes of Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan have questioned the logic of him not batting higher to make better contributions.

“I don’t understand. He’s (Dhoni) in such a good form and coming so low in the batting order to bat,” Harbhajan said on his YoutTube channel. “He got dismissed on the first ball but I was hopeful that he would come in place of Mitchell Santner in the 14th over. He could have made a big impact. I don’t understand why is he coming so low in the batting order.”

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Harbhajan, who played with Dhoni both at the international level and in IPL as a teammate, says the strategy to send the wicketkeeper-batter so late in the innings was ‘hard to understand’.

“At no. 9 a bowler comes to bat not a player like Dhoni who has the calibre as well as the form to score runs. It was hard to understand what was the strategy behind that decision,” he said.

Another of Dhoni’s former India and CSK teammate Pathan asked the 42-year-old to take more responsibility.

“MS Dhoni batting at No.9 doesn’t work for CSK, it’s doesn’t help the team’s cause. I know that he is 42, but he is in solid form. He should be taking the responsibility of batting up the order. He should bat for at least 4 to 5 overs. He is batting for the last over or last 2 overs and that doesn’t serve the purpose for CSK for a long term,” he said.