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Former India captain MS Dhoni missed the top spot in the list of the most powerful batters ranked by India National Cricket Team fast bowler Arshdeep Singh. The pacer was asked to rank Matthew Hayden, Andrew Symonds, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni and Chris Gayle according to the batters’ hitting powers.
Without making any delay, the 27-year-old pacer placed his former Punjab Kings (PBKS) teammate and the former West Indies cricketer, Chris Gayle, at the top of the chart.
Arshdeep Singh marks Chris Gayle as the most powerful batter
Speaking on the ‘Krishnank Atrey’ YouTube channel, sitting inside a moving car, Arshdeep Singh expressed that Chris Gayle would be at the top of the standings as the discussion was around the batters’ muscle power.
Singh got to watch Gayle closely in the nets when both of them used to play for Punjab in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Arshdeep Singh revealed that he never saw someone hit the balls so cleanly like Chris Gayle, although his approach in the nets was different.
Chris Gayle used to be different in the nets
In the nets, the southpaw’s focus was to middle the ball, and during the matches, he took the bowlers for a ride. Arshdeep Singh explained the contrast in the former international batter’s approach.
“Chris Gayle is at the very top when it comes to power. I played with him for two or three years, and I don’t think anyone can hit the ball as cleanly and as far as he does. I’ve seen him do it many times. In the nets, he usually takes it a bit easy and mainly focuses on middling the ball. You wouldn’t realise that the same batter goes into a match and starts hitting from the very first ball. As an opener, he first looks at the conditions and assesses everything,” Arshdeep stated.
Arshdeep Singh puts MS Dhoni as the second most powerful batter
Singh placed MS Dhoni second after Gayle, and Yuvraj Singh at third. While placing the former Australia batters Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds in fourth and fifth positions, the India pacer mentioned it was difficult to rank these two batters as he never played with them.
In a separate question, the host of the video offered Arshdeep Singh a match stipulation: MS Dhoni is on strike in the 20th over, requiring 15 runs to win, and Arshdeep is the bowler.
Arshdeep jokingly answered that he would not reveal his strategy as MS Dhoni is still active for the Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.
"Mahi bhai hasn’t retired yet, yaar. Why are you asking me to reveal my plan? If I tell you my plan now, the CSK analyst might note it down, and they’ll change their strategy. I’ve said this once or twice before as well. If Mahi is facing me, the best thing I would want to do is give him a single and bring the other batter on strike. I think that would be the best strategy because he has always dominated bowlers in the last over," he replied.
