Dhoni answers why he came lower down the order in CSK run chase

Chennai Super Kings skipper M.S. Dhoni referred to a lengthy downtime as one of the reasons for not promoting himself up the order in the steep run chase against Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah on Tuesday.

Published : Sep 22, 2020 23:53 IST

M.S. Dhoni hit a hat-trick of sixes in the final over of the CSK run chase.
M.S. Dhoni hit a hat-trick of sixes in the final over of the CSK run chase.
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M.S. Dhoni hit a hat-trick of sixes in the final over of the CSK run chase.

Chennai Super Kings skipper M.S. Dhoni referred to a lengthy downtime as one of the reasons for not promoting himself up the order in the steep run chase against Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah on Tuesday. "I haven't batted for a long time. The 14-day quarantine [after landing in UAE] doesn't help," said Dhoni after the match. "Also we wanted to try different things, give opportunities to Sam (Curran). Have the opportunity to try different things. If it doesn't work, you can always go back to your strengths."

Chasing 217, CSK finished on 200/6 with Dhoni remaining unbeaten on 29 off 17. The veteran keeper-batsman rued the poor batting display at the top of the order. "217 on the board, you have to have a very good start. That was not the case," said Dhoni. "They (Royals) batted really well. Steve (Smith) and Sanju (Samson). You have to give credit to their bowlers too. There was a lot of dew. They knew what lengths to bowl.

As it happened

"Their spinners didn't try too many things. That was an error our spinners did in their first couple of overs. Without singling out anyone, a controllable we could have controlled is no-balls. Had we not bowled no-balls, we would have been chasing 200, and it would have been a very good game."

Faf du Plessis scored 72 off 37 including seven huge sixes, and Dhoni reserved praise for du Plessis' batting performance on an otherwise disappointing evening for the Super Kings. "Faf batted really well. The key is to adapt. When the spinners are bowling really short, what is important is to still hit over mid-on and not go to the square leg because the ball stays low here. I think Faf did that really well," Dhoni said.

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