Former India batsman Gautam Gambhir was surprised to see MS Dhoni bat so down the order, despite Chennai Super Kings chasing a huge 217-run target to win. In a still chase on Tuesday night, the likes of Sam Curran, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Kedar Jadhav batted at No. 4, 5 and 6 respectively while Dhoni reserved himself for No. 7. Gambhir, the former Kolkata Knight Riders captain, who led the franchise to two IPL titles, felt that Dhoni should have batted higher and led from the front.
“I was a bit surprised to be honest,” Gambhir said on ESPNcricinfo’s T20 Time Out. “MS Dhoni batting at No. 7? And sending [Ruturaj] Gaikwad before him, Sam Curran before him. Makes no sense to me. In fact, you should be leading from the front. And this is not what you call leading from the front. Batting at No. 7 when you’re chasing what… 213 [217]? The game was over. Faf was probably the lone warrior.”
“Yes, you can talk about MS Dhoni’s last over when he hit three sixes, but it was of no use to be honest. It was just all personal runs. See, if someone else would have done this, some other captain had batted number seven, he would have got a lot of flak,” he further said.
Gambhir is of the opinion that in the absence of Suresh Raina, Dhoni needs to take up the responsibility up top and not make people show that the other players like Curran, Gaikwad, Jadhav, etc. are better than him.
“It is MS Dhoni – probably (that’s) why people don’t talk about it. When you don’t have Suresh Raina, you’re making people believe that Sam Curran is better than you. You’re making people believe that Ruturaj Gaikwad, Curran, Kedar Jadhav, Faf du Plessis, M Vijay, all these guys are better than you,” he added.
