'Dinesh Karthik pulled off an MS Dhoni' - Ajay Jadeja heaps praise on KKR skipper's decisions against CSK

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper and former India captain, MS Dhoni, is regarded as one of the best leaders in world cricket. Along with finishing games with his bat and pulling off extra-ordinary wicketkeeping shows, Dhoni is hailed for his leadership skills. The CSK skipper, however, hasn’t been at his best in the on-going edition of the IPL.

Dhoni, on Wednesday, suffered yet another defeat as he was outclassed by Dinesh Karthik-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Abu Dhabi. Chasing a modest 167-run total, the CSK batting unit suffered a collapse in the middle overs. After losing four of their first six games, the Chennai side is currently under pressure to make it to the Playoffs.

Following CSK’s batting debacle against KKR, Dinesh Karthik was hailed for his captaincy decisions. The KKR skipper was at the centre of criticism for certain decisions, especially with regards to the team’s batting line-up.

But against CSK, Rahul Tripathi was assigned the opening duty, and the move worked for KKR as he slammed a brilliant match-winning 81. Karthik also tweaked his bowling line-up and introduced Narine in the latter stage. Narine bowled a brilliant spell and put CSK under pressure during the run-chase.

Dinesh Karthik stood by his plans against CSK: Ajay Jadeja

Heaping praise on the KKR captain, former India batsman Ajay Jadeja said that ‘Karthik pulled off a Dhoni’ in the encounter at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi.

“Have to admit that he (Dinesh Karthik) pulled off a Dhoni today. What MS Dhoni has been doing with other teams, today Karthik managed to do the same by dictating the play. His decision to make Pat Cummins bowl the 11th over saw the game slowing down and then Karthik decided to throw Sunil Narine in the middle. Narine only conceded 3-4 runs and these were the moments where the game shifted in favour of KKR.

“There was always that belief that CSK can chase down all sorts of targets and that fear often made the opposition teams make wrong decisions. Today, Karthik stood by his plans even tough the Super Kings had 90 runs in the first 10 overs. Hats off to Karthik,” said Jadeja while speaking to Cricbuzz.

Former India opener Virender Sehwag was also impressed by Karthik’s strategy to reserve his two spinners– Narine and Varun Chakravarthy for the latter overs of the match.

“If this was a strategy, then excellent but sometimes captains do forget that one of their main bowlers is unused. Jokes apart, I think Karthik really reserved his spinners Narine and Varun Chakravarthy for the overs between 9 and 20, this was the right strategy,” said Sehwag.