MS Dhoni’s slow innings in Chennai Super Kings’ second match in the IPL 2020 has brought him criticism from all the corners. CSK were chasing a huge target of 217 runs, but Dhoni decided to bat so down the order. He sent the likes of Sam Curran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kedar Jadhav batted at No. 4, 5 and 6 respectively while Dhoni reserved himself for No. 7.
Walking to bat at number 7 and taking singles when the team was in desperate need of some quick runs, MS Dhoni’s decision made his team CSK finish at the losing side. From calling it a ‘selfish act’ to calling his approach ‘non-sense’, cricketers and fans are not taking Dhoni’s performance too kindly.
Kevin Pietersen also was very critical about the snail-paced innings played by MS Dhoni. Criticizing Dhoni’s batting, he mentioned how Dhoni was taking ‘silly singles’ during the 4-5 overs and started scoring only when the ship had sailed. He said:
“Yeah, you got to get up. You have to at least give yourself the opportunity to win the game. That’s what Sunny is talking about.”
He added:
“When you see how close they went, Du Plessis started to go, then MS Dhoni started hitting at the end and then they lost by only 16 runs. So we were talking about a 4 or 5-over period when they were just knocking it around, knocking it around and running silly singles. They could have caught the game up there with a little bit of intent. They could have easily knocked this score off.”
KP further said that T20 isn’t about doing experiments when you need 20 runs in the last over. He said that he is not buying into this ‘nonsense’. He said:
“If you need 20 in the last over, you can win this game. It’s not about experiments, saying ‘oh it’s early on in the tournament’. Let me tell you, T20 cricket can bite you very, very quickly. You can end up losing five games on the go very quickly and then you can end up thinking ‘oh my goodness, are we actually going to get into the finals?’. I am not buying into this nonsense.”
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