We Are Lacking A Bit Of Steam In The Batting And That Hurts: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni rued CSK’s lack of rollicking starts with the bat and lack of discipline by the spinners following his sides’ humbling 44-run-defeat at the hands of the Delhi Capitals.  It was yet another painstaking run-chase by the Chennai Super Kings as they huffed and puffed their way to 7-131 in overs, 44 runs adrift of their eventual target. Chasing 176, the MS Dhoni-led CSK needed their openers to give them an ideal platform on which the likes of Jadhav, Dhoni, Du Plessis, and Sam Curran could build on, but it was yet another lackluster start from the duo of Shane Watson and Murali Vijay.

Shane Watson hobbled his way to 16-ball 14 but it was Murali Vijay’s lack of intent that once again hurt CSK. Vijay scored a painstaking 15-ball 10 before eventually getting dismissed on the last ball of the powerplay. MS Dhoni didn’t mince words in the press conference, adding that their batting is lacking a ‘bit of steam’ and the fact that their openers aren’t really setting the world on fire in the powerplay isn’t giving them any sort of momentum in their innings.

CSK has dearly missed Ambati Rayudu in the last two games but MS Dhoni gave an encouraging update in the post-match interview, where he confirmed that the middle-order batsman will be available from the next game.

I don’t think it was a good game for us. There was no dew, but the wicket did slow down. We are lacking a bit of steam in the batting and that hurts. The run rate keeps on mounting after such slow starts and adds pressure, we need to figure that out. We need to come back with a clearer picture, looking at the combination. Maybe, the team balance will get better once Rayudu comes back in the next game. That will give us the room to experiment with an extra bowler perhaps. There are quite a few things we can think about,” MS Dhoni said in the post-match conference.

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‘We need to get better with our lengths’- MS Dhoni

For the second game in a row, CSK’s spinners were put to the swords by the opposition batsman. And, even though Piyush Chawla came back well to dismiss both Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw, him and Ravindra Jadeja, who is having a forgettable IPL 2020 thus far, still gave away 77 runs in their 8 overs.

Dhoni alluded to a lot of boundary deliveries bowled by Chawla and Jadeja early-on in their spell besides adding that since they are playing with seven batsmen, the bowlers needed to step up to the challenge.

‘We are one batter extra to start off, so the players need to step up. We need to get better with our lengths, lines and pace. I think the spinners have not come to the party yet. We are bowling good deliveries, but we are giving away the boundary deliveries bit too often,’ he added.

As for MS Dhoni, the former Indian captain once again demoted himself down the order before managing a 12-ball 15. CSK will now have a 6-day break to recover from back-to-back defeats before they take on SunRisers Hyderabad in Dubai, next Friday.