"Beginning of the end of MS Dhoni era?" - Fans speculate CSK captain's future after his painfully slow innings against Delhi Capitals
Ever since the commencement of the IPL 2021, fans have been eagerly waiting in anticipation to witness a special innings from MS Dhoni.
But that has not been the case so far. Even in the latest game, MS Dhoni came in to bat before the 10th over and had an opportunity to take some time early on.
Dhoni did get settled today, and it gave his ardent fans hope that he might unleash himself in the death overs as CSK still had Jadeja and Bravo in the dugout.
However, Dhoni(18 in 27 balls) failed to tee off at the end, which meant his strike rate was a dismal 66.67 by the time he departed in the 20th over of the innings.
Ambati Rayudu played a fantastic knock of 55* to help Chennai Super Kings reach 136/5 in their first innings after a middle-order struggle on a sluggish pitch.
Fans noticed the batting in the first innings and took to Twitter to voice their opinions. A few of them trolled MS Dhoni for playing a snail-paced knock, while some defended him by blaming the pitch.
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Here are some of the best reactions:
Dhoni has seriously forgot how to bat. Give 25 balls to Jadeja and he would've gone past 50.
#DCvCSK
It doesn't look like it is easy to hit on this pitch. The ball isn't quite coming on today. Such a dead surface. 😑😑
#DCvCSK
Nothing against CSK but has anyone ever been underutilized as much as this Man? He's in form of his life, hitting 'em as good as it gets but doesn't get to play even 4-5 overs. Pathetic. Nothing justifies this. 🙂
#DCvCSK https://t.co/hWZFgVnT1l
CSK's biggest opposition is not Mumbai Indians or RCB it's MS Dhoni.
#DCvCSK
Mentor saab missed his well deserved twentury by 2 runs 🤧😭
#CSKvsDC #DCvCSK https://t.co/JX4Pjs9htr
MS Dhoni today. Same vibes.. #IPL2021 #DCvCSK https://t.co/SQNs3YSWgY
Ambati Rayadu is CSK's Gautam Gambhir.
#CSKvsDC #DCvCSK #VIVOIPL #IPL2021
Once #Dhoni Ferocious Batting was Feared By Bowlers .
Now a Whole Team is not ready to take his wicket away as
#Dhoni can play a lot of Dot Balls as No one plays more Dot Balls than him.
#DCvCSK
Dhoniji ne kia hai to kuch soch samajh k hi kia hoga....
#IPL2021 #CSKvsDC #MSDhoni #DCvCSK https://t.co/Tse372UDnq
18 Runs, 27 Balls, 0 boundries.
Strike Rate - 66.66
A Poor batting by MS Dhoni.
While seeing him batting it seemed that he didn't want to score runs. A huge Lack of Intent was seen.
At present, the weakness of #CSK in batting in #IPL2021 is only #MSDhoni.
Sad but true 🥲 https://t.co/jFbGXPeyKD
Whatsapp and Instagram is down after Vintage MS DHONI innings🥺😞 #CSKvsDC #MSDhoni #WhistlePodu
Pujara seeing #MSDhoni tonight :
#CSK #CSKvsDC https://t.co/nBT4CGnK8A
#Msdhoni's best strike rate forever.No one can break his strike rate even #CheteswarPujara. #CSKvsDC https://t.co/AYY0diyWRP
@ChennaiIPL Beginning of the end of #MSDhoni era?
Pujara, rahane & murli vijay watching dhoni's batting:
#DCvCSK https://t.co/CFjy3vrmwm
This is certainly not the end of the road for Suresh Raina, he'll be used again: Michael Vaughan
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan opined that Suresh Raina would don the yellow jersey once again soon.
The southpaw missed out on today's game against the Delhi Capitals due to a niggle. Robin Uthappa replaced him in the playing XI in this contest.
Vaughan reasoned by pointing out CSK's policy of giving players a longer rope. Speaking on Cricbuzz, he discussed Raina's absence from the game and said:
"Chennai just don't replace players. They just keep going and try to make sure they stay consistent. They give the player the backing and they back the player to come good.
"Maybe MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming, knowing that they have qualified, just want to have a look at Robin Uthappa. This is certainly not the end of the road for Suresh Raina, I'm sure he'll be used again."