"4 Out Of 10": Virender Sehwag Rates MS Dhoni's Captaincy vs Rajasthan Royals Poorly

Former India captain MS Dhoni drew flak for his abysmal performance and decisions in the IPL 2020 fixture against Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Tuesday. Former India opener Virender Sehwag rated his captaincy poorly and decoded plenty of errors in his judgement and decision making during the match.

Sehwag feels that either MS Dhoni could have batted higher up the order or could have sent all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja ahead of him. He also added that Dhoni made some strange decisions on the field as he continued giving overs to Ravindra Jadeja and Piyush Chawla despite the duo leaking ample of runs.

“I feel Dhoni could’ve batted higher up or even sent Ravindra Jadeja to bat after Sam Curran got out. The run-rate slowed down in the middle overs. If that hadn’t happened and about 20-22 runs were required to win in the last over, the three sixes that Dhoni hit would’ve made people say ‘wow, what a finish’,” Virender Sehwag told Cricbuzz.

“If over 30 runs are required, those three sixes wouldn’t make a difference. I think Dhoni could’ve batted over Kedar Jadhav at least. The number of balls Jadhav played, had Dhoni been the one facing them, CSK wouldn’t have finished with the deficit of 17-18 runs that they did,” he further explained.

“Even while CSK were fielding, Dhoni’s captaincy had some strange decisions. He continued giving overs to Jadeja and Piyush Chawla despite them leaking runs. The four overs that CSK’s spinners bowled to Sanju Samson, put the game in Rajasthan’s favour,” Sehwag highlighted.

“Dhoni then brought Lungi Ngidi who dismissed Samson a then Chawla was brought back into the attack. In his final two overs, Chawla only conceded 8 runs. This shows that Dhoni should’ve made these changes earlier,” Sehwag said.

Dhoni played a bizarre knock during a mammoth 217-run chase against Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2020 contest on Tuesday. Dhoni once again promoted Sam Curran in the batting line-up as he stepped in to bat at No.7 for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

CSK heavily relied on Faf du Plessis to score most of the runs. Dhoni just picked up singles to return strike to the former South Africa captain. The veteran batsman looked out of touch for most part of the match, before he changed his bat in the final over, and slammed three back to back sixes.