IPL 2020: MS Dhoni Must Bat Higher Up The Order, Says Virender Sehwag

Oct 13, 2020 at 8:26 PM

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IPL 2020: MS Dhoni Must Bat Higher Up The Order, Says Virender Sehwag

The former Indian opener Virender Sehwag feels that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni needs to bat higher up the order instead of promoting other batsmen like Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran and Dwayne Bravo. Chennai Super Kings have only two wins out of seven matches so far in the IPL 2020.

Dependable middle-order batsman Ambati Rayudu needs to improve his strike rate according to the dashing opener Virender Sehwag. It is almost a do-or-die battle for the Chennai Super Kings against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Dubai on Tuesday.

In the last time the two teams met in the first half, SRH prevailed by 7 runs as Kedar Jadhav was the culprit again by scoring 3 off 10 balls and CSK lost despite MS Dhoni’s unbeaten 47 and Ravindra Jadeja’s 50.

Virender Sehwag, India
Virender Sehwag (Image Credit: Google)

Virender Sehwag : MS Dhoni Has To Bat Higher Up

The MS Dhoni-led team CSK is languishing at the 7th spot on the points table and are ahead of the only KXIP with just two wins in seven matches in IPL 2020.

The team will have to win at least five of their next seven matches in the next half, considering the minimal margin of error and hoping for other factors to go in their favour like opponent teams losing if they want to make it to the playoffs for IPL 2020. They were similarly placed in IPL 2010 which they eventually won.

MS Dhoni (CSK)
MS Dhoni (Image Credit: IPL)

Former India batsman Virender Sehwag joins those who are discussing how CSK can turn things around as he simply feels that one of the important steps in that direction has to be the skipper MS Dhoni batting higher in the order and not think of all-rounders.

“MS Dhoni needs to stop thinking about other players. He needs to first think about himself, and come into bat higher up. You cannot just go on promoting other batsmen up the order. For CSK to win, Dhoni will have to bring himself up the order”, said Virender Sehwag on his Facebook channel titled ‘Viru Ki Baithak’.

MS Dhoni is playing his 8th match and has scored only 112 runs averaging 37.33.

Virender Sehwag :Ambati Rayudu Must Improve Strike Rate

The dashing batsman also felt that other batsmen of CSK particularly openers Shane Watson and Faf Du Plessis need to take more responsibility. He also pointed out that dependable batsman Ambati Rayudu needs to improve upon his strike rate. Ambati Rayudu has scored 151 runs in 6 matches after missing a couple of matches due to injury. His strike rate of 121.77 achieved so far isn’t up to the mark, especially in IPL.

“Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis are under constant pressure that if they don’t give CSK a good start, the rest of the team will not be able to get them to a good score.”

Ambati Rayudu
Ambati Rayudu. Image Credit: Twitter.

“Rayudu has to understand that in T20 cricket, the game ends after 20 overs, and he can’t start hitting in the 20th over,” Sehwag said.

In terms of CSK’s bowling, Virender Sehwag felt that CSK are doing pretty well enough with pacer Shardul Thakur finding lost form in the last few games. He has picked 7 wickets in 5 matches averaging 19.85.

“Sam Curran was jolted by RCB’s Virat Kohli in the last match, so maybe this time around MS Dhoni will think of replacing him for the final overs by Deepak Chahar,” said Virender Sehwag.

Sam Curran was hit all over the ground as RCB skipper Virat Kohli scored a classy unbeaten 90 as RCB won by 37 runs. He conceded 48 runs and picked 1 wicket in his quota of four overs.

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