Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir has opined that Chennai Super Kings should not drop Shane Watson even though he has been unable to give a good start to the team in all the four matches thus far.
CSK has lost three matches in a row after winning the season opener match against Mumbai Indians (MI). The reason for Chennai’s defeat has been the poor and slow start by openers.
For the first three matches, CSK tried the opening combination of Murali Vijay and Shane Watson but things didn’t work out for them.
In the last match against SRH, Faf du Plessis and Watson were paired for the opening stand but they failed to set partnership which costed CSK as they lost the match by seven runs.
Gautam Gambhir, however, believes that dropping Watson from XI is not the solution because other players have also given below-par performance.
“I would never drop Shane Watson, because their entire batting order looks so rusty. Kedar Jadhav looks rusty. Ambati Rayudu looks rusty,” Gambhir said in a chat show on ESPNCricinfo.
MS Dhoni got to back Shane Watson – Gautam Gambhir
Gambhir said that if he had to make choice between inexperienced and veteran player, he would go with Shane Watson. He acknowledges that Watson’s form is hurting MS Dhoni but he admits that one big knock will bring the Aussie cricketer back into the game.
“I know Shane Watson is not in the best of forms, imagine replacing Watson with Ruturaj Gaekwad? Obviously, he is a young cricket, developing cricket. Or Murali Vijay? I would back Watson for another 4-5 games.
I know it’s a tricky situation for MS, but you got to back your best batsman. A batsman who can wins game if he comes off good. At the moment, he has not, but he can come at any time, you never know,” Gambhir further said.
Shane Watson has scored 4, 33, 14, 1 runs respectively in the last four matches for Chennai Super Kings. If he fails to bounce back stronger against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP), the franchise might be in big trouble.