We didn't see the spark to push the youngsters, Says MS Dhoni As He Defends Not Backing Youngsters

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni has defended the team-management’s decision of not giving chances to youngsters in the ongoing IPL 2020. The CSK’s skipper’s comment after his side suffered a seven-wicket loss at the hands of Rajasthan Royals on Monday.

The defeat was the seventh in ten games this season for CSK as they dropped to the bottom of the points table. With the latest defeat, their chances of making it to the playoffs is also effectively over.

Batting first, CSK could only manage 125 for 5 in 20 overs after MS Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. The three-time champions were off to a poor start as Faf du Plessis (10) and Shane Watson (8) departed cheaply to leave the side reeling at 26 for 2.

CSK managed to stop the rot thereafter but failed to accelerate the run-rate. Ravindra Jadeja, who was the top-scorer with 35 not out from 30 balls, was the only batsman who managed to show sort of urgency. MS Dhoni scored 28 but played same number of balls while Curran’s 22 came off 25 balls.

In reply, Royals were off to a disastrous start and found themselves three down for just 28 inside the powerplay. Deepak Chahar sent back Ben Stokes and Sanju Samson while Josh Hazlewood accounted for Robin Uthappa to bring CSK back in the game.

But before CSK could make further inroads in the game, Steve Smith and Jos Buttler steadied the ship. The duo shared an unbeaten stand of 98 runs to take Royals over the line with utmost ease in the end. Buttler scored 70 while Smith scored 26.

MS Dhoni’s reaction:

The latest defeat has once again put CSK’s strange selections in the spotlight. Despite some of their senior players’ constant failures, the team-management has has persisted with them in the playing eleven and it has backfired so far.

Speaking about it, MS Dhoni said CSK did not want to chop and change to make sure players didn’t feel insecure. He also insisted that the team-management did not really see the ‘spark’ to back the young players as he defended the selections in the ongoing competition.

“We have to see if the process was wrong. Result is a by-product of the process, but the fact still remains that if you’re focused on the process then the undue pressure of result doesn’t enter the dressing room. We’re trying to address that,” said MS Dhoni.

“You don’t want to do too much chop and change because after 3-4-5 games you won’t be sure of anything. Insecurity is something you don’t want to prevail in the dressing room. It’s fair enough [the criticism for not playing youngsters], this season we weren’t there. Maybe we didn’t see as much spark from some of our youngsters. Maybe going forward we bring them in and they play without pressure,” he added.

Also Read: ‘Dhoni Can’t Get Away Without Being Questioned’: MS Dhoni Slammed For Including Kedar Jadhav In Playing XI Against RR

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