Veterans unhappy with Chennai's batting order against Rajasthan, slam MS Dhoni's captaincy

As Chennai faced a thumping defeat at the hands of Rajasthan on Tuesday, several veteran cricketers have criticized skipper MS Dhoni for not promoting himself up the order. While Chennai had a mammoth target of 217 in front of them to chase, the side got off to a mild start with both openers - Murali Vijay & Shane Watson - not getting big starts. Ambati Rayadu's absence also hurt Chennai as they faced defeat by 16 runs despite Faf du Plessis' late strike. 

Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir came down heavily upon Dhoni's decision to bat at number 7 despite the side needing too many runs to chase. During an interaction on ESPNCricinfo’s T20 Time Out, Gambhir said that he was a 'bit surprised' by the decision and that Dhoni should have 'led from front' by promoting himself up the order. The former Indian opener also opined that Dhoni's late sixes were of 'no use' and were just 'personal reasons'. 

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The decision did not go well with former English cricketer Kevin Pietersen as well. The former prolific batsman remarked that the team needs to give themselves the opportunity as well. He added that Chennai were casually knocking and were not 'serious' during the middle overs of their chase. "When you see how close they went, Du Plessis started to go, then MS Dhoni started hitting at the end, and then they lost by only 16 runs,” said Pietersen in a post-match show to Star Sports.

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'Wanted to try different things': MS Dhoni

On the other hand, skipper MS Dhoni explained his decision of coming late by stating that he hasn't played for a long time hinting that there was still some rust. "If we would've maybe restricted them to 200, it would've been a good game. I haven't batted for a long time. 14-day quarantine doesn't help (why he isn't batting higher). Also wanted to try different things, give opportunities to Sam. Have the opportunity to try different things," Dhoni said during the post-match presentation. 

"If it doesn't work, you can always go back to your strengths. Faf adapted very well. Something the batsmen will do, neglect square leg and go more towards long-on and long-off," he added. 

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Rajasthan defeat Chennai 

The Steve Smith-led Rajasthan kicked-off their Dream 11 IPL 2020 campaign with a dominating victory by 16 runs against three-time champions Chennai on Tuesday at the Sharjah International Stadium. Rajasthan had set a mammoth total of 217 runs with significant contributions from skipper Steve Smith, Sanju Samson and Jofra Archer. Despite a victory in their last game, Chennai struggled to get things right against Rajasthan as the bowlers were smacked across the park while the batsmen failed to get going in the high-run chase. 

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In response to Rajasthan's first innings, Chennai got off to a mild start. However, just as Shane Watson seemed to get going, he was bowled by Rahul Tewatia. The spinner also scalped the wicket of Sam Curran who hit him for two sixes and then bagged the wicket of Ruturaj Gaekwad. With the chase looking far-fetched, Faf du Plessis continued to keep Chennai in the game with some brilliant maximums.