The calls for MS Dhoni to bat higher in the order were finally heard as the Chennai Super Kings stalwart walked out to bat at the No. 5 spot in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 match against Punjab Kings on Tuesday. Dhoni hit 27 runs in just 12 balls but couldn't take his team over the line, while chasing a gigantic target of 220 runs. As CSK suffered their 4th defeat of the season, former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull questioned the franchise's repeated reluctance to make the former skipper bat higher in the order.
"Dhoni had three sixes in 12 balls. The rest of the team had five in total. So that tells you he's still got the ability and power to hit those sixes. That's why we have been talking about getting him up in the order. Because 27 off 12 balls, when they are 2 down, actually can make a difference. It's not his fault," Doull said in a chat on Cricbuzz.
Another big decision that garnered everyone's attention in the match was the all to 'retire out' CSK opener Devon Conway. The Kiwi opener was the Super Kings' top-scoring batter in the game, registering 69 runs off 49 balls. But, he couldn't quite accelerate the run-rate in the latter stages of the game, prompting the management to send Ravindra Jadeja as a replacement.
Jadeja could only score 9 runs from 5 balls while remaining not-out, with the stunt ending in a failure for CSK too.
"Retiring Conway was an interesting decision. He had the pace of the pitch but his strike rate was too low. In a game where you've got a strike rate of 190 to win, he was scoring at 140. But he was retired out too late, too late for Jadeja to assess," said Doull.
Whenever CSK have been asked about the non-promotion of Dhoni in the batting order, the reason given is that the wicket-keeper batter is no longer fit enough to bat for 8-10 overs. Even in this game, Dhoni walked in to bat when 4.1 overs were left while the Super Kings still needed 69 runs to win.