In the match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Delhi Daredevils (DD) on Monday, MS Dhoni surprised us all by dropping in-form Ambati Rayudu down in the batting order. Rayudu has been in outstanding form for CSK at the top of the order and he is also the proud owner of ‘Orange Cap’ for being leading run scorer of IPL 2018 so far.
To accommodate Faf du Plessis, who recovered fully from his injury, at the opening slot, MS Dhoni pushed Rayudu down at number 4 and himself at number 5. This decision, initially, didn’t go down too well with the fans as Ambati Rayudu has been in red-hot form and they were not expecting any change in his batting position at least. But, you just can’t predict things when MS Dhoni is the boss.
Read some of these tweets posted by CSK and Dhoni fans:
Rayudu should have opened the innings instead of Faf. ? #WhistlePodu
— Leena Priya (@RainaMyIdol) April 30, 2018
Why would thala not let Rayudu open?? WHY?
He was doing good as an opener.#CSKvDD https://t.co/TjzIs0eqdS— Stanley the manly (@DedhShanaa) April 30, 2018
https://twitter.com/AfjalHu38858602/status/990965392209137664
https://twitter.com/SparshTelang/status/990966536583041025
The opening combination of Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis worked very well and even Rayudu, who came in to bat number 4, did no harm to his reputation. All in all, it can be easily said that Dhoni knew what he was doing and he also had reasons to do that.
In the post match presentation ceremony, Mr. Sanjay Manjrekar asked MS Dhoni about his decision to open with Faf du Plessis and not with Ambati Rayudu and he gave a very honest reply.
“We wanted to have an overseas batsman in the team because Sam (Billings) needed some rest and this is the reason why we got in Faf (du Plesses),” Dhoni said.
We all know that Faf du Plessis is not a very attacking batsman and he takes some time to get going even in T20s. But, he is also a very solid batsman who can hold one end up and anchor the innings.
Adding more to his explanation, Dhoni said that because Ambati Rayudu is the man in form and orange cap holder, he decided to drop himself at number 5 and make him bat at 4.
“Rayudu is the orange cap holder and he should face more deliveries, I decided to bat at number 5 and made him bat at 4,” Dhoni explained.
Now, this is something that only an intelligent and selfless leader like MS Dhoni could do.
