Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni has been in brilliant form with the bat in the ongoing 2023 edition of the IPL. With an outstanding strike rate of 204.26, Thala has made 96 runs in the eight innings he played. Stepping onto the field to bat in the slog overs, Dhoni has been able to play big shots without taking much time. In the game against Delhi Capitals, Dhoni came out to bat in the 17th over and scored a nine-ball-20 on Wednesday.
“This is what my job is, I have told them this is what I am supposed to do, don’t make me run a lot and it has been working. This is what I need to do, happy to contribute,” Dhoni said in the post-match conference.
While saving 168 runs at the Chepauk, the Men in Yellow managed to restrict Delhi 27 runs short of their total, winning their seventh match of the season.
“It turned a lot in the second half. We know that our spinners use a lot more seam than some of the other bowlers. We thought it’ll slow down. We didn’t know what’s a good score. That’s why I wanted the bowlers to bowl their best deliveries but not look for wickets every delivery. That’s when you start not bowling well. I felt 166-170 was a good score. But as a batting unit, we can do better,” the CSK skipper added.
”The good thing is Moeen and Jaddu got a chance to bat. As we get closer to the last phase of the tournament, it’s important that everybody has a few deliveries under their belt. We need to be happy with our batting.”
Dhoni also talked about Ruturaj Gaikwad, who has been a run machine for CSK over the years. He is once again CSK’s leading scorer with the bat.
“He (Gaikwad) is batting really well, he’s somebody once he starts scoring, he’s very effortless. He’s somebody who’s happy to rotate. He has the game awareness. He is ready to adapt. You rarely get people like that. People who read the game, those are the kind of players you need in your team” Dhoni signed off.