MS Dhoni reveals why Suresh Raina was pushed down to No.5 against RCB

 
MS Dhoni Suresh Raina

The 35th match of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League happened yesterday at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium featuring the Chennai Super Kings and the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Led by MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli, CSK and RCB are among the most popular franchises in the Indian Premier League right now. 

Yesterday, MS Dhoni won the toss and invited the Royal Challengers Bangalore to have a bat first. The pitch at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium is famous for high-scoring games, and the duo of Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli provided a solid start to the Royal Challengers Bangalore, scoring 111 runs for the first wicket. 

However, the Chennai Super Kings did not allow the other RCB batters to capitalize on the good start. Shardul Thakur and DJ Bravo united forces to take five wickets in the RCB innings, as the Bangalore-based franchise could only set a target of 157 runs for the Super Kings. 

Chasing 157 to register their seventh win of the competition, the Chennai Super Kings looked comfortable in the second innings. The quartet of Ambati Rayudu, Moeen Ali, Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad did their jobs well. In the end, MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina guided the team home. 

Here’s why MS Dhoni sent Suresh Raina to bat at number five position in last night’s match 

Generally, left-handed batsman Suresh Raina bats in the number three or number four position for the Chennai Super Kings. However, in yesterday’s match, Chinna Thala came out to bat at the number five position. Here’s why:

“All three grounds here are different. This one is the slowest of the lot. I felt the left-right combination here was important with the bat. We bat deep with a lot of lefties and all of them are good to bat at any position, which is why we pushed Raina and Rayudu down,” MS Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.

From around the web

Trending Videos