Former Chennai Super Kings batter Ambati Rayudu believes MS Dhoni will not promote himself in the batting order after his blistering knock against Delhi Capitals at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Sunday.
While chasing 192 against DC, the defending champions CSK scored 171-6 and suffered a 20-run loss. However, the CSK fans were on cloud nine as MS Dhoni batted for the first time in IPL 2024.
The former CSK batter creamed his first ball to four but had the rub of the green on his side as he was dropped by Khaleel Ahmed on the next ball. What followed was vintage Dhoni, taking Delhi Capitals’ bowlers to the cleaners, scoring 16-ball 37 with the help of four fours and three maximums while batting at number eight.
However, Rayudu, who has observed Dhoni from close quarters, feels the talisman will not promote himself in the batting order as he can add the finishing touches in a crucial game.
Speaking to Star Sports, Rayudu said, “I feel that after this knock, he will definitely not come because he has now got the confidence that he can win matches for CSK by going down the order. This is actually a setback to our hopes of seeing Dhoni bhai bat up the order.”
Interestingly, Dhoni also turned down singles to Ravindra Jadeja when the match was going out of CSK’s grasp.
“I feel Mahi bhai knew that the match had probably gone out of grasp. So he knew he could get crucial batting practice in the middle in a match because he knows that such a situation can come in the playoffs or a crucial qualifying match. So he was preparing himself for that,” he replied.
Rayudu launched a warning to other teams, stating that Dhoni is confident within himself and can take the game away from the opposition while batting in the death overs.
“He was testing himself that whether he can still hit yorker-length balls against good bowlers out of the park or not. The happiness you could see on his face after playing that innings, I feel he is very confident within himself,” Rayudu said.
“Every team should be scared now because this guy will come in the last five overs and we will now again get to see the batting we used to see from MS Dhoni in 2005,” the former India player added.
Chennai Super Kings will next take on Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Friday.
