Every Tactic That Dhoni Employed Against Sunrisers Hyderabad Worked:
Their campaign is back on track, courtesy of the smart captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but a tough test awaits Chennai Super Kings when they face the powerful Delhi Capitals here on Saturday in their next IPL match.
Every tactic employed by Dhoni against Sunriser’s Hyderabad succeeded, and they are expected to continue in the same vein as they fight to save the season. Every move produced the desired result, whether it was promoting Sam Curran to the opener’s slot or finishing Deepak Chahar’s quota pacer upfront while using seven bowlers to dry up runs.
For just one over and that too late as in the 16th over, Dhoni used leg spinner Piyush Chawla, leaving it largely on Ravindra Jadeja and Karn Sharma, but CSK is likely to continue with three spinners given that the wickets of Sharjah are now getting slower.
In the last two games where RCB and Kings XI Punjab slow bowlers were instrumental in their respective team’s wins, it was evident that spinners hold the key in Sharjah.
As the league phase progresses towards the business end, the three-time champions will look to build on the victory over SRH.
However, the South African pace duo of Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje, who bowled a 156.2 kmph delivery during his spell against Rajasthan Royals, are up against a team that is high on trust and well-served.
Add the wily R. Ashwin and Axar Patel to the mix and DC has a rather impressive bowling unit.
Pacer Tushar Deshpande, who made a memorable debut on Wednesday in the win over the Royals, adds teeth to the assault and will focus on how he follows up on that performance.
The Capitals side would be a little worried about the fitness status of Shreyas Iyer, who hurt his left shoulder in the previous game. The skipper has been in good form with the bat and has led well too.
DC would be deprived of his classy batting and cool leadership if he is ruled out of tomorrow’s match, which will be a blow for a side still lacking the services of Rishab Pant, sidelined by hamstring issues.
The team will also expect the young Prithvi Shaw to demonstrate consistency though, like Marcus Stoinis, the senior pro Shikhar Dhawan has weighed in with critical runs at the top.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (C), M Vijay, Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis, Shane Watson, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar, Piyush Chawla, Imran Tahir, Mitchell Santner, Josh Hazlewood, Shardul Thakur, Sam Curran, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif, Monu Kumar, R Sai Kishore, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Karn Sharma.
Delhi Capitals: Shreyas Iyer (C), Ravichandran Ashwin, Shikhar Dhawan, Prithvi Shaw, Shimron Hetmyer, Kagiso Rabada, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Mishra, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ishant Sharma, Axar Patel, Sandeep Lamichhane, Keemo Paul, Daniel Sams, Mohit Sharma, Anrich Nortje, Alex Carey (wk), Avesh Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harshal Patel, Marcus Stoinis, Lalit Yadav.
