England all-rounder Sam Curran made his debut for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Saturday against Mumbai Indians. It was a decent game for him considering the youngster picked up a wicket for 28 runs in four overs, and also added a quickfire 18 runs in just 6 deliveries.
More than the performance, what made everyone talk about Curran was his batting position. CSK skipper MS Dhoni decided to send him above himself when the last three overs were left in a 163-run chase.
With 29 needed off 17 deliveries, Curran came out to face Krunal Pandya after Ravindra Jadeja's dismissal on the first delivery. He smashed a four and six to ensure CSK don't lose from there. The all-rounder also hit Jasprit Bumrah for a six which did impress the fans.
When asked about his batting position after the match, Curran said, “To be honest, very surprised I went in but he’s a genius, he obviously thought something,” Curran said at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Zayed Stadium. “A great win in the end.”
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Sam feels his batting promotion was a tactical move by Dhoni to counter the left-arm spinner Krunal. “That was the over we wanted to target - a six or out approach mentality. Take the risk, and if it comes off it comes off, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”
Dhoni also opened up on his batting order change after the match. He said, “At some point, I thought we needed to give Jadeja and someone like Sam to go ahead in the batting order and express themselves. They still had two spinners remaining, and we tried to intimidate the bowler a bit, it was just a psychological aspect.
“We know we bat quite deep and wanted them to go after the bowler. If you clear one or two (sixes), then it is easier for the batsmen to follow.”
The win for CSK came in the last over with four balls left. They won the match by 5 wickets and Ambati Rayudu got Man of the Match for his 48-ball 71 runs.
