Kolkata: Looking dapper in a suit, MS Dhoni smiles, recounting for you the benefits of a national bank. His is — as it always was — a face that can easily sell airline tickets, ceiling fans, mineral water and even mutual funds.
Bet he would do anything to borrow some of that goodwill to convince the CSK faithful that this too shall pass. Because there are lows, and then there are abysmal lows like this.
A walloping eight-wicket win by Kolkata Knight Riders who took down 103 in just 61 balls means Chennai Super Kings have now lost an unprecedented three consecutive matches at home. Never have CSK lost five games in a row as well, another forgettable first. All on Dhoni’s comeback as CSK captain, again.
There was no Dhoni touch, and to be fair to him there was no scope of it too, not when you are shot out for the lowest ever total at home. KKR spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy had CSK in a tangle with Harshit Rana taking two crucial wickets. CSK crawled to 103/9 but there was neither any resolve nor any heart in that innings.
“We don’t want to match somebody else or some other team,” Dhoni tried to reason after the thrashing. “We have quality openers and it is important not to get desperate seeing the scoreboard. A few boundaries and the score keeps moving, if we target 60, it gets tough. If we lose wickets, the middle order needs to do the heavy lifting and the slog never comes.”
Dhoni’s analysis was spot on but he missed out on the point of intent.
Forget Chepauk, never have Chennai Super Kings capitulated this meekly anywhere. Getting all out for 97 at the Wankhede in 2022 was a sore point, but at least the batters had gone for their shots then. Ruturaj Gaikwad was missed but here, CSK’s batters just blindly traipsed into the matchups with KKR’s formidable spinners.
Rahul Tripathi could have used his KKR experience but Narine cleaned him up. Vijay Shankar got two lives but still managed a 43-run partnership with Rahul Tripathi. So shambolic was their batting that CSK had to use their Impact Player in Hooda, sacrificing Matheesha Pathirana’s bowling. Even that didn’t click as CSK slumped to 72/7 from 59/2.
It could have been less appalling had Dhoni not chosen to wait till the fall of the seventh wicket in the 15th over. His knees are creaking, and he favours batting at the death. But in an innings that was choking on its own mediocrity, was it prudent for Dhoni to wait so long?
The only plausible reason could be that no one knows Dhoni’s limitations better than Dhoni. Which is why watching him labour against spin is an ordeal nobody can agree to pay for anymore. Thankfully, that ordeal was brief this time, and not without a tinge of controversy after replays showed a flicker on Ultraedge when Narine’s delivery was going past his bat. But the leg-before was plumb, and there wasn’t enough evidence for the third umpire to believe Dhoni had got some bat on the ball.
By staying unbeaten Shivam Dube prevented CSK from being dismissed early, and nothing more really. Taking singles off the first ball, failing to connect even the full tosses, calling the physio with just one ball left in the innings, Dube looked incapacitated, almost defeated even before the game was over.
Outskilled, outthought, this isn’t the first time CSK have been so ruthlessly exposed. Irony of all ironies is how CSK keep finding ways to run back to Dhoni for answers. Which would have been fine if it was 2020. But this is 2025 and CSK are running the risk of being left behind.
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