Virender Sehwag has criticized Dhoni’s wrong captaincy as the reason for CSK’s loss in the first match of IPL against Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on March 31.
CSK was unable to accumulate runs in the middle overs and CSK collapsed after Ruduraj’s innings and scored only 178 runs. 178 is not a par score on that pitch. 10-20 runs less score. After that, Dhoni’s captaincy, his old skills, became a slouch without the smarts.
Dhoni’s captaincy has never failed to deal with spin bowlers. But Dhoni is not a fan of fast bowling. Because he likes to do all the wicket keeping without shaking. He doesn’t try to dive and catch. Because injury is always a threat to him. But he has managed to manage wicket keeping too as he has played without much injury. For that he will not encourage fast bowlers and fast bowlers much.
Dhoni’s failure to use off-spinners and decent bowler Moeen Ali has become a major point of criticism. Bowler Tusshar Deshpande was dropped as an impact player in place of Ambati Rayudu. But Deshpande ended up being an impact player who didn’t make an impact. He gave 51 runs in 3.2 overs.
In this case, Sehwag, who did not get the chance to captain the Indian team, has very accurately pointed out Dhoni’s captaincy deficiencies. He said in an interview given to Crigbus website.
“If Dhoni had used an over Moeen Ali somewhere in the middle overs he would not have needed to rely on Deshpande. Deshpande scored the most runs. Dhoni is not one to make such mistakes often. This is where risk-taking and reward-seeking captaincy is needed. Does it mean that a right-handed batsman should not put an off-spinner? He could have given an over,” said Sehwag.
Another former India player Manoj Tiwari says, “It was really surprising when Tusshar gave Deshpande the new ball. Dhoni doesn’t know when he bowls in domestic cricket. Tushar is not always a new bowler. He will throw only behind. Rajyavardhan might have given the new ball to Hungerkegar,” he said.