Fans and experts were left perplexed when MS Dhoni walked out to bat at number nine in the Chennai Super Kings vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru match in the Indian Premier League. It triggered a lot of outrage on social media but CSK head coach Stephen Fleming has now stated that fans should not expect their star player to walk out early. (Match Highlights | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Even in CSK's yesterday's loss against Rajasthan Royals, Dhoni came to bat in at number seven with just 25 balls left in the contest. A little improvement but not that much.
The reason behind Dhoni walking out to bat late in the innings is his fitness, revealed Fleming.
바카라Yeah, it바카라s a time thing. MS judges it. His body is바카라 his knees aren바카라t what they used to be. And he바카라s moving okay, but there바카라s still an attrition aspect to it. He can바카라t bat ten overs running full stick. So he will gauge on the day what he can give us. If the game바카라s in the balance like today, he will go a little bit earlier, and he backs other players when other opportunities are up. So he바카라s balancing that,바카라 Fleming said at the post-game press conference.
"I said it last year, he's too valuable to us, leadership and wicket keeping, to throw him in at 9, 10 overs. He's actually never done that. So, look, from around 13, 14 overs, he's looking to go depending on who's in."
Chasing 183, CSK could only get to 176/6 in their quota of 20 overs. Dhoni scored 16 off 11 balls and got dismissed in the last over as CSK fell short.
The five-time champions have now lost back-to-back games after winning their opener against Mumbai Indians. However, Fleming remains confident despite a tricky start for his team.
"We've won one out of three. It's not all bad. The competition's about that - everyone's sort of beating each other. A couple of teams are up the top. But the way we respond, the resilience to a loss like this is always very important. Going back home, I just hope we can get a wicket that we can understand and play well on with the weapons that we've got. But it's not all bad. We did some good things but we just need to tidy up a few others."
