Former India captain Kris Srikkanth has said that rustiness crept in MS Dhoni’s game due to the one year gap between the 2019 World Cup and IPL 2020 and mentioned that things would have been different had IPL happened in April in its usual slot.
Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) have had their worst IPL ever since, having lost 8 matches out of 11 played and the captain has been criticized for his choice of players and for the fact that he hasn’t led from the front, having made just 180 runs at a strike-rate of 122.44 and has hit just 7 sixes and 13 fours in the 147 balls he has faced.
In his column for the Times of India, Srikkanth wrote, "A lot of time and energy has been spent on discussing Dhoni's approach as a batsman and strategies he adopted as captain in the ongoing league. The world has come to expect a lot from the veteran and rightly so. His record as a white ball batsman and captain is second to none. In my opinion, the break from the World Cup in 2019 to this IPL allowed some rustiness to creep in. The script could have been different had the tournament happened in April."
Focusing on MS Dhoni’s batting, Srikkanth further wrote, “I have seen many great batsmen get into a rut and unless you possess the greatest of technique, the best way to come back to form is to take an aggressive approach. Dhoni should have played like the Dhoni of old, where he was fearless and attacking. He never allowed the bowler to dictate terms; unfortunately, he allowed the bowlers to gain an upper hand in almost every innings this season.”
“As far Dhoni's tactics as captain goes, I didn't really understand why he refused to play the youngsters in the side. Even before the league started, Chennai was well aware that their first XI was not available. It was a similar situation to the World T20 where Dhoni reaped the rewards for trusting youth," Srikkanth added.
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The two-time World Cup-winning captain Dhoni retired from international cricket in August this year, after the ICC T20 World Cup in Australia was postponed to 2022. Srikkanth also talked about the approach CSK should have taken in the tournament.
"The biggest win for Dhoni the leader was the 2013 Champions Trophy. The manner in which he shaped that young side to become world-beaters was probably his high point as a leader. I expected the same from him in UAE but he chose otherwise. All other teams have done better by backing their uncapped Indian talent.
An all-out aggressive approach with the bat will not be a bad idea for the CSK. If two-three of Chennai's batsmen can manage to play their natural game for a decent period of time, they can still trouble the best," Srikkanth concluded.
