Last night in Jaipur, Chennai Super Kings suffered their third loss of IPL 2023 as they were unable to chase down 203 against Rajasthan Royals. Once more, CSK relied more on their middle order than the captain, and they paid a price for their dubious strategy.
Despite being in excellent form, MS Dhoni has, for some reason, been placed lower in the batting order than players like Shivam Dube, Moeen Ali, and Ravindra Jadeja, who have been given opportunities to bat before him. The ideal time to juggle the cards in a tight pursuit was last night, but it wasn’t to be. Dube and Jadeja held off opponents by 46 runs, but CSK still lost by 32 runs.
The loss angered CSK supporters, and many of them questioned why Dhoni was not sent higher. CSK coach Stephen Fleming and Dwayne Bravo answered these questions in an intriguing way. The former captain of New Zealand, who has been with the squad from the beginning, indicated that CSK has a specific set of tasks given to each member of the team, and changing them to make exceptions is the incorrect practise to follow.
Stephen Fleming said
“The set roles are very important. (Ajinkya) Rahane has been great for us at No. 3. We don’t mess with things that are going well. It was just today we came up against a team that took the pace off the ball. We couldn’t get any real momentum in the first six overs. Devon Conway, who is in outstanding form, couldn’t get underway. The rhythm of the innings was slow. When we tried to catch the game up, we made mistakes,” he said during the post-match press conference.
Bravo also offered his opinion on the subject, saying that despite this possibly being Dhoni’s final IPL season, the CSK captain is content to watch and expose the young players to such high-stress situations. The biggest success story from this way of thinking is Dube, who was ridiculed for his 19 off 18-ball IPL 2023 debut before going on to score 236 runs from 8 matches, including three consecutive fifty-scores and a high of 95 not out against RCB.
“That is the position he has to bat. Everyone is batting higher than him and he takes that responsibility and ownership upon himself to bat lower down the order because the likes of Jadeja, Rayudu, and Dube, he wants to give these guys as many opportunities as possible. He is happy to just play the finishing role,” Bravo said.
Stay updated with all the cricketing action, follow Cricketmatchpredictions Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
