Former Indian opener and now cricket commentator Aakash Chopra took a dig at Chennai Super Kings’ batsman stating that Chennai express has become a goods train. Chennai could only post a meagre total of 125 runs after their captain MS Dhoni won the toss and decided to bat first against Rajasthan Royals at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi on Monday.
The CSK batters got off to starts but none of them could convert it into substantial scores. CSK’s batting has disappointed in the whole season as they have lacked the intent in their batting. Chennai haven’t been able to hit the ground running and it is surprising to note their mundane performance with the bat.
Chennai’s batsmen has failed to achieve any kind of momentum in the tournament and it was the same story against RR. Rahul Tewatia, Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer bowled tight spells for Rajasthan and kept CSK batsmen at bay.
Only Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson have got some runs but the rest of the batters have struggled to get going. In fact, Chennai batters have left too many runs to get in the death overs as they have played too cautiously in the middle overs.
With only three wins after 10 games, the playoff hopes are almost done and dusted for the three-time champions. They will need to win the remaining four matches and will also want other results to go their way, to have an outside chance of qualifying for the last four.
Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel, “Chennai Express has now become a goods train. They went extremely slowly and were handed their 7th loss. There is a serious serious concern. It is almost over for Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings.”
“Earlier I was feeling that qualification might be possible with 14 points but now I feel it is tough because KKR is running ahead and it seems the top three teams will not be caught. So from here to qualify is going to be a bit of an issue.”
On the other hand, Aakash Chopra fails to understand why CSK is still playing Kedar Jadhav. The right-hander has been struggling to time the ball in the ongoing edition and hasn’t been able to score freely while batting in the lower order.
CSK have a problem of plenty in their batting order. The MS Dhoni-led team will play their next match against reigning champions Mumbai Indians at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on 23rd October.
