‘It was a psychological thing’: MS Dhoni reveals why Sam Curran batted ahead of him vs Mumbai Indians

Dixit Bhargav | 20/09/2020
'It was a psychological thing': MS Dhoni reveals why Sam Curran batted ahead of him vs Mumbai Indians

Sam Curran: The English all-rounder proved his mettle after he was promoted to bat ahead of captain MS Dhoni in Abu Dhabi.

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni hailed the 115-run partnership between Faf du Plessis (58*) and Ambati Rayudu (71) which played an integral role in Chennai defeating defending champions Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the season opener.

With CSK reduced to 6/2 in the second over of a 163-run chase, two experienced campaigners in du Plessis and Rayudu joined hands to put on display a match-winning stand against a bowling lineup comprising of Trent Boult, James Pattinson and Jasprit Bumrah.

“[Ambati] Rayudu had a wonderful partnership with Faf [du Plessis]. Most of us are retired so luckily no injuries as well,” Dhoni was quoted as saying during the post-match presentation ceremony. “The experience pays off, everyone talks about it. You get it only after you play a lot of games.

ALSO WATCH: Faf du Plessis grabs terrific boundary catches to dismiss Saurabh Tiwary and Hardik Pandya

“300 ODIs is a dream for anybody to play and when you put an XI on the field, you need a good mix of youngsters and experienced players. You need the experienced players to guide the youngsters on and off the field. The young players get 60-70 days with the seniors in the IPL and they pick up things [from senior players],” he added.

MS Dhoni reveals why Sam Curran batted ahead of him vs Mumbai Indians

Needing 29 runs to win off 17 balls, Dhoni bamboozled one and all by sending all-rounder Sam Curran ahead of him at No. 6. Much like Dhoni’s other such intriguing decision throughout his career, this one also reaped fruits as the 22-year old southpaw scored 18 (6) including one four and two sixes to hand CSK a significant advantage.

Being asked about the same, Dhoni laid emphasis on giving more batting opportunities to the likes of all-rounder Jadeja and Curran and explained how the same was a “psychological” move.

“One thing we haven’t done is giving a chance to [Ravindra] Jadeja and Sam [Curran] to come up the order and express themselves which is what we did today. It was a psychological thing of saying that okay, we have batsmen down, so we’ll send one or two of them up to hit a few,” Dhoni said.

Before concluding, the 39-year old player also lauded the people who are working tirelessly behind-the-scenes to make IPL 2020 a possibility in the times of COVID-19 pandemic.

“It is an amazing job done by the IPL, especially ones behind the scenes. To make it happen there are a hundred different things; as cricketers we easily criticize stuff. To have the practice facilities like these at the ICC academy were fantastic. Unless you get practice facilities you won’t play well in a tournament like this,” Dhoni concluded.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
chennai super kings csk Indian Premier League IPL 2020 MI MS Dhoni Mumbai Indians Sam Curran

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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