In a stiff chase of 181 against Punjab Kings, Chennai Super Kings suffered a batting collapse and were bowled out for 126 in 18 overs. The loss was CSK’s third straight of IPL 2022 as the defending champions’ horror start to title defense continued under a new captain in Ravindra Jadeja.
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Allrounder Shivam Dube was the only batter who offered some fight, hitting a half-century but was left with too much to do as the death overs approached. Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar reckons that former captain MS Dhoni couldn’t keep the scoreboard ticking with singles and doubles something which he’s known for and hence, CSK’s chase got stuck.
“With MSD, what you see is that even if he doesn’t start hitting the big ones, he is moving the strike along, getting those ones and twos. He wasn’t quite able to do that this time around. That’s where CSK got stuck just that little bit,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
Dhoni managed 23 off 28 and at one stage was batting on 10 off 20.
“If they had a situation where Shivam Dube was hitting the ball so well, they needed to get a move on along with him. That didn’t quite happen. Look at those some of those dot bills that he played, yes, later on, he made up with the boundaries. When you are looking to score 20 runs an over, that’s tough for the best of players, it’s not easy,” Gavaskar explained.
Gavaskar is also surprised at CSK’s three defeats in a row, pointing out the team has made a reputation of being comeback kings over the years but things aren’t working out for them so far this season.
“Surprise, big surprise. They have always been a team who were able to make comebacks. This time they have lost 3 matches on the trot,” Gavaskar said.
While Gavaskar did say that Jadeja will be under the pump, the presence of Dhoni will offer some solace.
“The new captain will be under tremendous pressure, yes he has got MSD to support him, but at the end of the day, the buck will stop with him with CSK haven’t won anything at the moment. You need to turn it around very, very quickly. They can do it, there are 11 more games to go. We saw what happened with KKR last year,” he said.
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