Many analysts are criticising MS Dhoni’s participation in the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) competition, which is causing a stir in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 debate. In addition to offering data on Dhoni’s performances since the 2023 Indian Premier League, former CSK spinner Harbhajan Singh also expressed his thoughts on the player.
Since Mahendra has been entering the lineup at odd positions, his batting position has been one of the main topics of discussion during the tournament. He batted at number seven in the previous game, but Ravindra Jadeja was put ahead of him. Harbhajan Singh expressed disapproval of the management’s decision and cited data indicating that the former captain of India had averaged more runs in defeat than in victories for CSK.
“I want to show you some statistics. Mahendra sahab bahut bade khiladi hain, par jab woh aaye hain, match khatam ho chuka tha (Dhoni has been a fantastic player, but the match was almost gone by the time he made his appearance to bat). Dhoni has only managed to score three runs in nine deliveries, without a single six or boundary, whenever he has chased in winning causes since the 2023 Indian Premier League. On his YouTube channel, Harbhajan stated, “Mahendra has scored 166 runs in 84 balls with 13 fours and 13 sixes in losing causes.”
This indicates that Dhoni’s average in games that CSK has won is only 8, whilst his average in games that CSK has lost is 49. Does anyone want to see games that are lost? And I believe that this is a significant problem that CSK must resolve,” the four-time IPL champion continued.
Dhoni is backed by Harbhajan for a better batting position.
In addition, Harbhajan Singh stated that he would rather see Mahendra bat higher in the order since it would let him to play his natural style and score more runs, which would help the team going forward.
“The team management must adopt a new perspective on this. Leave Mahendra alone and send him up. Instruct him to smash since it will matter if he scores runs. There isn’t much to criticise else. These statistics aren’t coming to pass, yet he still destroys them,” Harbhajan said.
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