Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni may have not been in his best form in the Indian Premier League 2021 season with the bat. But his captaincy was certainly fruitful in helping CSK bounce back from the disastrous season the franchise had in 2020 in the UAE.
CSK had finished at the 7th position last year, failing to make it through to the playoffs. This year, CSK quickly rose to the 2nd spot in the IPL 2021 table with five wins in seven games, before the tournament was suspended.
Speaking in his latest Youtube video, former India cricketer Aakash Chopra praised Dhoni for his decision to back his players, and stick with them despite difficult starts.
“One thing I liked a lot was MS Dhoni’s captaincy. We could see a change in his captaincy from last year to this year. Last year we saw Dhoni, he had only five bowlers at the start and he made changes quickly,” said Chopra.
“Ruturaj didn’t score runs and he was dropped. Narayan Jagadeesan was dropped, players were getting dropped very quickly. But this time in seven encounters, seven Indians played continuously. He did not change a single Indian player,” Chopra added.
“The overseas changes were only injury-related. Moeen Ali got injured, so he got Dwayne Bravo to get an all-rounder. He also thought of playing a spinner as Moeen Ali’s spin will not be there.
“The tactical changes were absolutely fine but MS Dhoni not making the changes shows the confidence he had. It is because of this CSK and MS Dhoni are special, they are not trigger-happy, they give time and keep faith in their selections. Because of this they don’t find but make players,” he signed off.