Isn’t Dhoni the only chance of CSK to bounce back into this IPL?

There were a lot of chats around about the form of MS Dhoni before the preparations of IPL 2020. Cricket enthusiasts and experts had predicted that it would be a serious challenge for MS Dhoni to return to cricket after 18 months and find his form immediately. His last competitive game was against New Zealand in the semi-final of World Cup in 2019. It seems that the predictions of those people are becoming true as Dhoni has failed to impress with the bat so far in this year’s IPL. His failures with the bat have impacted the overall performance of his team Chennai Super Kings.

Chennai Super Kings has played 6 matches so far and lost 4 of them. Incidentally, Chennai has been given the task of chasing in all these matches. Experts have pointed out that the biggest problem that Chennai is facing while chasing is the failure of their middle-order, especially Dhoni. In all these years, when Chennai has been a consistent performer in the IPL, Dhoni has been finishing matches for them. But this year, Dhoni has not been able to play that role. Neither Jadhav, Curran or Jadeja have been successful so far in finishing the matches.

MS Dhoni batting performances in this IPL so far

Dhoni’s scores are – 0* of 2 balls against Mumbai Indians at Abu Dhabi, 29* of 17 against Rajasthan Royals at Sharjah, 15 of 12 against Delhi Capitals at Dubai, 47* of 36 against SRH at Dubai, 11 of 12 against Kolkata Knight Riders at Abu Dhabi. A total of 102 runs in 5 innings with an average of 51 and a strike rate of just 114.

These are very ordinary batting performances as per the Dhoni standards. Critics have started saying that Dhoni doesn’t have that finishing ability in him anymore. Even supporters of Mahi are saying that this Dhoni is not the old Dhoni which had the confidence of hitting 50 runs in last 3 overs or 20 runs in last over to any bowler. They say that it is not fair to expect the same kind of performance from Dhoni which he has done for CSK and Indian team for several years.

When Dhoni started his career, he was a pinch hitter. Gradually, he evolved his batting when he came to bat at number 4,5 and 6. He found the formula of finishing matches by taking game till the last ball and then win for the team. He has successfully applied this formula even in the IPL in all these 12 years of batting excellence. But this year, Dhoni has not been successful in his formula. He has tried to take the matches to last overs, but failed on several occasions to get his team over the line.

Social media expects a lot from MS Dhoni and because they have seen a series of failures from MS Dhoni in this year’s IPL, they are calling for a mid-IPL retirement from Dhoni. They think that Dhoni is destroying his 15 years of legacy in cricket.

Dhoni is the only chance of CSK

Well, the retirement of Dhoni is not a solution for CSK. The biggest hope for CSK to bounce back in this IPL solely rests on the future performance of middle-order of CSK. It is only MS Dhoni who can turn the tide and give CPR to the breathless CSK.

MS Dhoni is that kind of player who won’t need a Suresh, Rajeev, Kali, or Sakshi on social media to tell him the right time to retire. He knows what is best for him and what is the best time to bid goodbye to IPL.

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