CSK in turmoil: Kris Srikkanth tears into MS Dhoni


One of the most vocal supporters of MS Dhoni’s captaincy over the years, former India opener Kris Srikanth has criticised the talismanic Chennai Super Kings’ captain for his remark on youngsters lacking the spark to push older players out of the playing XI. Discussing the game between the Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals which the men in yellow lost after an abject surrender with the bat while batting first, Srikkanth tore into the process of MS Dhoni’s captaincy and said that he respects Dhoni being a great cricketer but he does not accept the views Dhoni has of the team at the moment.

Srikanth said that all the talks of process, process does not bode well if he gets the selection process wrong and misreads the team's need and requirement based on condition. Srikanth, fondly known as ‘Cheeka’ was dishing the comments of MS Dhoni about the lack of youngsters in the playing XI when he said,

“It's fair enough this season we weren't there. Maybe we didn't see as much spark from some of our youngsters. Maybe going forward we bring them in and they play without pressure," after the loss against the Rajasthan Royals.


Srikanth specifically pointed out the selection of Kedar Jadhav and Piyush Chawala after repeated failures in the season so far and the outlook they presented in the team. Srikkanth went a step further and asked if Dhoni had seen some spark in Kedar Jadhav which he found missing in youngsters he pointed out.


The Chennai Super Kings have been going through a turmoil in the ongoing season of the IPL and have lost seven out of the 10 games played so far. MS Dhoni has irked many fans and experts by his questionable moves in team selection and captaincy while fielding and batting without intent in the IPL 2020.



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IPL 2020 | CSK vs RR: What Experts said as CSK bows out of IPL with yet another boring defeat

With Chennai a constant of ‘boring’ seems to have been attached this season as the team has lost most of its game one-sided, leaving no scope for the audience to enjoy the game. This match against Rajasthan Royals, another bottom half team alongside the Super Kings was on the same lines as they lost it by a huge margin of seven wickets with 15 balls remaining. Having scored a dismal 125 in the first innings at Abu Dhabi, there seemed ‘no’ to ‘very little’ chance for the men in Yellow to come back into this game. They had a mini-comeback into the game as well when they got Rajasthan down to 28/3 in the first four and a half overs. But from there on, skipper Steve Smith and ‘rightly due for big innings’, Jos Buttler took the mantle in control and sailed the ship to the shore with much ease. Captains’ Viewpoint Winning a game after two close losses, (losing from winning positions) Rajasthan skipper was relieved, to say the least. Reacting to the win, Smith compared the pitches in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah saying, “Sharjah is a little different from here. The wicket was stopping, not the best for batting, and good to be on the winning side,” he said. Praising the bowlers, Smith further said, “I thought we bowled well in the powerplay. The spinners bowled good lengths, with the googlies and leggies, building a lot of pressure. Tewatia and Shreyas have been sensational for us.” Not being able to perform well in this year’s league, Smith was waiting for an opportunity to bat through and Buttler with his brilliant knock of 70 off 48 deliveries provided him the platform. “Buttler took the pressure off me. I just knocked it around, and he just batted the way he usually does. He always maintains a good strike-rate,” said Smith. Talking about the crucial moment in the game when a strong appeal for LBW was made against him, and RR were all already three down, Smith said, “I didn't know I'd nicked the ball, but I was relieved to see the green light,” he said. CSK captain MS Dhoni, who played his 200th IPL match today, looked gloomy at the post-match presentation ceremony as there was no bright to match like this. Reacting to the loss he said, “It's not always supposed to go your way. That's why what we try is going back to the process and see if the process is wrong or maybe we weren't able to execute. The result is always a by-product of the process. What it does is it helps you think in a positive way.” The philosophical mode of the MSD continued as he said, “We play in front of millions of people so there is nothing to hide. The fact remains that if you're busy with the process then the undue pressure of results doesn't get into the dressing room.” Admitting the fact that the pitch got better with time, the 39-year-old said, “There was a bit for the fast bowlers. The reason I brought on Jadeja was to see how much it's stopping. But it didn't stop much like in the first innings. In the second innings I think it got better because our spinners didn't get the same bite.” Always known to play a settled team, Dhoni was unhappy with the chopping and changing he had to do this season because of the lack of firm. “You don't want to chop and change a lot. Because what happens is after three-four-five games you're not sure of anything. You want to give guys a fair go then if they're not performing then you switch and go to someone else and give them a run. Insecurity is something you don't want to prevail in the dressing room,” said Dhoni. Accepting that his team lagged behind a lot this season, the Ranchi born said, “Fair enough, this season we weren't really there. Also, there were few chances to the youngsters. Maybe we didn't see the kind of spark that they could've given us to say okay you know push the experienced guys and make space for them.” Saying that now the youngsters will get the chance to showcase their talent in the upcoming games, he said quickly. “But what this result has done is to give those youngsters whatever is left in our league stages. They will get a chance and have no real pressure on them so they can go out and express themselves,” concluded the skipper. Expert Opinion Experts too were of the opinion that the Chennai team of this year lacked intent. Talking about that Aakash Chopra, the cricketer turned commentator said that CSK seemed to be running without any plan and without any direction. he pointed out as to how the team was not able to accelerate even after promoting Ravindra Jadeja to counter the leggies. Along with Chopra, a veteran journalist Joy Bhattacharya took a sly dig at the team and its fans saying that with the kind of losses that CSK has had to go through, their fans are now experiencing what the fans of all other franchises have had in some season or the other. Senior cricket analyst Boria Majumdar went on to question the intent of the team saying the losses don't hurt the fans, it is rather the manner in which the team is losing that hurt them the most. Sambit Bal, a senior cricket journalist spoke about how the Chennai team is now out of the context and how even Dhoni seems to have agreed to it. Harsha Bhogle, also known as the voice of cricketer got sarcastic in his approach saying that the game in Abu Dhabi was much like Monday Blues after the thrillers that the audiences were subjected to on Sunday. With Chennai out of the tournament, chances are that from now onwards, they are going to be the party poopers for others. Rajasthan still has an outside chance if they go on to win rest of their matches.

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IPL 2020 | CSK vs RR: Buttler holds fort to lend Rajasthan two vital points

Jos Butler's stroke-filled 70* bailed Rajasthan Royals from choppy waters in their quest of ticking 126 as Chennai Super Kings witness in horror their gold spoon morphing into a wooden variant. Decaying in the unfamiliar territories of the rock bottom of the points table, MS Dhoni and his troops are virtually out of contention for the play-offs jostle, fragmenting to their seventh defeat of the campaign in the 37th match of the Indian Premier League on Monday, October 19 at Abu Dhabi. Hazlewood delivers the goods Both franchises amended their speed department, with CSK proferring a debut to Josh Hazlewood and RR bringing on board Ankit Rajpoot. Leggie Karn Sharma bled 34 at an economy of 11.30 versus Delhi Capitals and was plausibly asked to carry drinks as CSK roped in veteran Piyush Chawla. In retrospect, Hazlewood was a silver lining to their cloud, wrapping up his maiden appearance of the season with competent figures of 4-0-19-1. ​CSK make a mountain out of a molehill Yes, the pitch wasn't exactly a batsman's friend, but that's not to take anything away from CSK's discipline early on. The swing king, Deepak Chahar had Ben Stokes dragging on following a couple of authoritative slaps. Robin Uthappa premeditated a scoop only for Hazlewood to bang it in short as MS Dhoni settled beneath the dolly. Sanju Samson holds an untoward reputation of being a one-hit wonder ever since he burst on the domestic scene, and we're afraid that his recent performances in the ongoing edition are doing little to manifest otherwise. Chahar strangled him down the leg side as Dhoni snaffled the dying chance in the webbing between the thumb and forefinger. ​Buttler the red signal to CSK's lorry RR were posed to lose their fourth on 28 but the snickometer tracked a faint edge, much to the surprise of Steve Smith himself who'd sauntered past thirty-yard circle, under the impression that he was nothing but dead plumb. Though the skipper took a while to drift into his element, Jos Buttler had a spring in his step. He reverse-swept Ravindra Jadeja with aplomb before timing from the screws a few not-s0-bad deliveries by Shardul Thakur. Piyush Chawla too endured a tough day at the office, with Buttler leathering him for three consecutive boundaries in the 15th over and a clean-as-a-whistle six later for good measure. The 98-run association between the seasoned pros yielded a spanner in any CSK plans of engineering a heist, as normalcy was established in the aftermath of last night's mayhem. ​How did Rajasthan's attack fare? Pretty clinically. For starters, Jofra Archer breathed fire. He roughed up Sam Curran with some nasty chin music before worming out Faf du Plessis thanks to a limp square dab. Shane Watson grinded a pull through cow corner and relished a fortuitous lemon cut off Kartik Tyagi, but the pacer fought redemption as his aerial flick found catching mid-wicket to precision. ​Under the radar, but mightily effective Rajasthan's spin twins threw their hats in the ring forthwith, numbing CSK to a brittle 56/4. While Shreyas Gopal proved Curran's nemesis on 22, Rahul Tewatia guiled Ambati Rayudu into an agricultural swat after technology kept his nose in a close lbw shave. The partners-in-crime were at the very heart of RR's middle-overs compression, baring an exemplary 32 amongst them and snaring a reward apiece. ​Jadeja being squandered at number six? MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja cobbled a fifty-partnership to usher CSK towards the light at the end of the tunnel. The duo refrained from heedless pomp and show, exchanging strike and smothering a few boundaries along the carpet. It was a tailor-made platform for the left-right combo to go for the jugular, but Dhoni was nobbled a millimeter short in his pursuit to steal a brace off Archer's fumble. The firebrand quick even put an absolute sitter down to repreive Kedar Jadhav. For all his spine-chilling pace, it's imperative he goes the extra mile to work on his fielding. Jadeja presented a strong case for promotion in the batting order, unfurling a treasure worth 35 to spare CSK a few blushes. What's next in store? Rajasthan Royals are gathering steam, slowly but surely, but these top-order collapses aren't going to serve them well in the long run. And they desperately want crown jewel Samson to wake up from hibernation mode. He'd have a fair crack at doing so when he plies his trade against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday, October 22. Chennai Super Kings looked like they brought a pencil to a lightsabre fight in their nightmarish stint this year. The bags will be packed soon, and thus salvaging pride and extending opportunities to fringe players would be high on their agenda as Mumbai Indians fling down the gauntlet on Friday, October 23.