Indian Premier League (IPL)

[Kumar]

Gaikwad is in form of his life! He hit a last six ball to reach his 100.

There is just no reason for Raina to have place in playing 11. Why not replace him with Robin Uthappa. We will not lose a bit and in fact gain in age.

By the way, Even substitute fielders for CSK needs to be 30+! Robin Uthappa in as substitute for Faf Du plessie

Jaiswal after being dropped by one of CSK oldies just took Hazelwood to cleaners.

[Kumar]

There is just no reason for Raina to have place in playing 11. Why not replace him with Robin Uthappa. We will not lose a bit and in fact gain in age.

I called this correctly

[prasen9]

Well, reliable sources told me that Dhoni sent out a word that CSK is looking for 40+ players desperately because currently there is only one. Word reached Kapildev and he desperately was looking for Tamil classes in Haryana because he was having no luck. Then, someone told him that the IPL takes people from all over and you do not necessarily need to know Tamil. To which, he said, huh, I do not want to be registered as a foreign player because I hear there are only 4 slots. So the search goes on. Lots going on in the cricket world these days.

[Omkara]

Dhoni strike rate 61. Very poor

[prasen9]

Strike rate does not matter. Wickets do. Four wickets are down in the first session and there are five days to go. Go Dhoni! Bat all five days!

[Kumar]

Dhoni is waiting for spinners to bowl their spell out!both Ashwin and Adar have 6 more overs each to complete their spell.

By the way, u have good bat up to 11 and u are doing this. Sometimes I seriously believe Dhoni’s captaincy is overrated.
Also, he unnecessarily cost CSK multiple chores when they bid on k Gautham who has been paid a lot to carry drinks.

DC batting is shaky as well. We may see DC struggle to get the target. I don’t think CSK have a very good bowling lineup to take advantage though.

[Omkara]

18 from 27 balls.... Jadeja came after him. CSK coupe have scored 15 more runs

[Kumar]

Prithvi needs to take a break and figure out his batting. Would not be surprised if he has the lowest average among all openers in IPL

[prasen9]

He is averaging over 29@157. Pretty decent. He may be scoring fewer runs but he is taking much fewer balls. One way to think about this is that you get him and you actually write off his wicket. Anything he gets is at a fast pace and brings the RRR down. So, in some sense whenever he scores, you are gaining more balls for the others to play at the cost of this wicket. I am fine with one such batsman in a team.

MoM: Dhoni. Axar Patel tried to match him with the bat. But, he took himself out of the reckoning by doing very well with the ball and getting out when he could not hit. Congratulations, MSD for yet another stellar performance.

[indiansportsfan]

But most of his avg was built up in the first half of the season, when he started off spectacularly, but the 2nd half has been abysmal. He needs to get his earlier form back before he should be considered.

[prasen9]

Agree fully. On current form, it would be Gaikwad.

[Kumar]

No wonder, Dhoni kept Gowtham on sidelines. He dropped a catch, which would turned this match in CSK favor


Dhoni seems like a person who does not give his trust easily, but once given it is very difficult to lose it.

Dhoni in 2012 advocating rotation policy for oldies

https://www.indiatoday.in/sports/cricke ... 2012-02-19

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Sunday backed the team's rotation policy in the top order, saying the top three batsmen were not playing each game because they are slow on the field.

Dhoni in 2020,

https://indianexpress.com/article/sport ... k-6802645/

You don’t want to chop and change. Insecurity is something you don’t want to prevail in the dressing room. Also the youngsters, we didn’t see the spark to push the guys,” Dhoni said at the presentation ceremony on Monday.

Is there a reason, Dhoni can’t come in as no11 batsman for this CSK squad? I don’t see Dhoni being better than any of batsman in this CSK squad.

[PKBasu]

It is absolutely ludicrous for Dhoni to be batting ahead of Jadeja and (especially) Bravo. He should drop down the order, in an acknowledgement that age has caught up with him.

[PKBasu]

Yashashvi Jaiswal, the youngster of whom so much was expected, has finally come good in the UAE phase of this year's IPL. He was a relative failure today (12 off 9 balls), but he has put together a nice run of scores: 49, 5, 36, 31, 50, all scored at a rapid pace.

[prasen9]

So, KKR and MI seem to be fighting it out for the last spot. The Kukurs are playing the RaRos while MumI plays SRH one day after knowing the full equation. I hope the dogs beat the aristocrats handily and maybe Sunrisers rise up in the morning for once instead of sleepwalking into matches and win one.

So, after 13 matches, (12 for two teams), the batting leaders are about the same (qual:300 runs) by SR:

158: Shaw

142: Mayank, Tripathi

138-139: Gaikwad, Samson

135:Padikkal

127-129: Rahul, Dhawan, Pant, Sharma

123: Rana

121: Kohli

Interesting to see the Indian team regulars mostly at the bottom of the list. And, the three who can hit: Kishan, SAY, and Hardik are not really staying at the wicket. I hope we see Gaikwad or Padikkal rewarded.