KKR Mentor Gautam Gambhir has revealed the kind of freedom his former Indian teammate MS Dhoni offers Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024.
MS Dhoni, who quit captaincy just a day before the start of IPL 2024, is once again playing the role of finisher for CSK. He has made sure to leave his mark whenever he arrives in the middle to bat. Dhoni didn’t fend off too many balls in the middle but however many balls he faced, MSD showed his classic self.
Gautam Gambhir feels that CSK deliberately wants MS Dhoni to face just 8-10 balls
In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Gautam Gambhir claimed that CSK’s strategy was to let MS Dhoni play only 8-10 balls. Gambhir feels that MSD has been given the freedom to make the most of the remaining deliveries of the innings.
The two-time IPL winning captain also claimed that using MS Dhoni in the last few balls was a strategy that CSK had adopted in the last few seasons. And this freedom from CSK has allowed MSD to make a huge impact that has helped the franchise in more ways than one.
“It is a strategy of CSK (Dhoni plays only 8-10 balls) and that has given Dhoni freedom. Different teams have different strategies and CSK has been doing this for the last 2-3 years. Freedom has allowed Dhoni to have an…impact.” – said Gautam Gambhir on Sportskeeda.
Gautam Gambhir then explained how this strategy of CSK works for MS Dhoni. Gambhir said that whenever a batsman goes to the middle to fend off more than 15 balls, he has the pressure and responsibility to put together an innings. In this situation, batters need to solidify themselves in the middle and make sure they speed up their swings as the inning progresses.
However, when a batsman finds himself in a similar situation to MS Dhoni – facing 8-10 balls – the pressure to consolidate an innings goes away. Since the batsman only has to deal with a handful of balls, he can hit every possible pitch with great freedom.
“When you play 20 to 25 balls, you have to consolidate that responsibility, but when it is just 8 to 10 balls, you can go out and express yourself freely.” – Gautam Gambhir added.
MS Dhoni’s numbers in IPL 2024
In what is supposed to be his final season in the Indian Premier League, MS Dhoni has only excelled as a finisher. Even though his team might struggle under Ruturaj Gaikwad’s captaincy, Dhoni’s season went quite well.
In 10 games, MS Dhoni has scored 110 runs with a quickfire best of 37*. He scored these 110 runs from 48 deliveries, meaning he scored more than 100 runs from just 8 overs at an impressive strike rate of 229.17. He averages just 110 and has hit 10 fours and 9 sixes along the way.