Chennai Super Kings slumped to their first defeat of the season as Rajasthan Royals put in a spirited performance against the MS Dhoni led brigade, thanks to the blitzkrieg by Sanju Samson, Steven Smith and Jofra Archer which was followed by some brilliant bowling from Archer and Rahul Tewatia.
Faf Du Plessis and Shane Watson tried their very best to propel Chennai closer as much as they can to the finishing line, but they lacked enough gas as Du Plessis remained there until the end, battling an imminent collapse.
Startling everyone, Dhoni waited until number 7 to come out to the crease when things were spiralling out of control and when the match was formally lost, he opened up his arsenal and banged three massive sixes against Tom Curran which would probably be a confidence booster but it wasn’t enough to save the blushes.
The world started singling him out and calling him names when he held himself out for so long and finally when he arrived at the middle, it was one of the poorest shows from Dhoni.
In the post-match ceremony, Dhoni said, “With 217 on the board, we needed a very good start which was not the case. Steve [Smith] and Sanju [Samson] batted very well.”
He continued, “Need to give credit to their bowlers. There was a lot of dew. Once you’ve seen the first innings, you know the length to bowl. Their spinners did well to bowl away from the batsman. Their spinners didn’t try too many things. That was an error our spinners did in their first couple of overs.”
With the world going ballistic at him for coming out so late down the order, he divulged the reason for taking that decision. He said, “I haven’t batted for a long time. 14-day quarantine doesn’t help either. Also wanted to try different things, give opportunities to Sam [Curran]. Have the opportunity to try different things.”
He concluded saying, “If it doesn’t work, you can always go back to your strengths. Faf [du Plessis] adapted very well. Something the batsmen will do, neglect square leg and go more towards long-on and long-off.”
