Former India opener Kris Srikkanth lashed out at Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni for his "did not see enough spark in our youngsters" comment after the match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Abu Dhabi on Monday (October 19).
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CSK suffered a humiliating seven-wicket defeat at the hands of RR. With 7 losses from 10 games, they are more or less out of the play-offs race now.
One scrutiny that the Chennai team has been facing through the campaign is the lack of youngsters in the playing XI, despite the consistent failures of veteran players.
After the loss against Royals, captain Dhoni touched on the same topic, saying the youngsters did not show spark to push the seniors.
"It's fair enough, this season we weren't really there. Also, there were a few chances to the youngsters. Maybe we didn't see the kind of spark they could have given us to say ok, push the experienced guy and make some space for them," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.
However, the remarks didn’t go down well with Srikkanth as he, while speaking to Star Sports Tamil, said that Dhoni undoubtedly is a "great cricketer" but he doesn’t agree with his viewpoint.
Srikkanth also slammed Dhoni's "believing in the process" comment.
"I won't accept what Dhoni is saying. This talk of process, process... I won't agree with that. You're talking about process, but the process of selection itself is wrong."
Kris Srikkanth further questioned the inclusion of players like Kedar Jadhav and Piyush Chawla in the playing XI.
“You're saying youngsters don't have spark, does Kedar Jadhav have spark? Did Piyush Chawla show spark? Come on, this is all ridiculous, I will not accept his answers today. By going on and on about the process, CSK's tournament is going to end.
"By saying that they will give opportunities from now to youngsters... come on, Jagadeesan showed some spark.
“At least Karn Sharma was getting wickets even if he was expensive. Piyush Chawla was brought into the attack after the match was done and dusted. Dhoni is a great cricketer, there is no doubt about that but I won't accept him saying that the ball didn't grip. I won't accept that," he concluded.
