Don't expect MS Dhoni to bat in IPL 2025 if there are more than six-seven overs remaining but the result is a foregone conclusion.
Post their loss to Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Guwahati, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) coach Stephen Fleming explained the decision-making process behind arguably the most debated issue this season: Dhoni's entry points.
"Yeah, it's a time thing," Fleming said. "MS judges it. His body is… his knees aren't what they used to be. And he's moving okay, but there's still an attrition aspect to it. He can't bat ten overs running full stick. So he will gauge on the day what he can give us. If the game's in the balance like today, he will go a little bit earlier, and he backs other players when other opportunities are up. So he's balancing that."
It doesn't quite mean the franchise is finding ways to accommodate the 43-year-old. On the contrary, Fleming said Dhoni remained of big value to the team. "I said it last year [as well], he's too valuable to us - leadership and wicket-keeping - to throw him in nine-ten overs. He has actually never done that. So, look, from around 13-14 overs, he's looking to go depending on who's in."
On Sunday, arguably the first opportunity for Dhoni to bat arrived when Vijay Shankar was the fourth wicket to fall in the 12th over, but Ravindra Jadeja joined Ruturaj Gaikwad. Dhoni went in with 54 needed off 25. In their last match, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), CSK lost their fifth and sixth wickets in the 13th over, but Jadeja and R Ashwin were sent to bat ahead of Dhoni, who went out at No. 9.
Add to this situation the drama around the crowds at Chepauk - and indeed in Guwahati - who start to cheer CSK wickets because they want to watch Dhoni bat. So, after the return of Jofra Archer to his best pushed CSK behind the game and once Riyan Parag pulled off a stunner to dismiss Shivam Dube in the tenth over, the Dhoni soap opera began to overshadow the game.
Ever since the Impact Player rule gave Dhoni's IPL career a new lease of life, he has not hit a single boundary in a successful chase. It tells you CSK don't bother batting him when the result is known. And when he has batted in live chases, Dhoni has not been able to secure the win. It would appear that Dhoni did the right thing by promoting himself - it was a promotion and Dhoni himself decides it - but if ever there was a case for Dhoni to be held back, it was this game.
As a rule, if the opposition has good spinners, Jadeja and Dhoni should be paired only if all options have been exhausted. On a night that RR outsmarted CSK by promoting Nitish Rana, who enjoys great match-ups against the CSK kind of bowling, perhaps this was a bigger tactical error made by CSK.
RR still had an over of Maheesh Theekshana left, and letting Jadeja and Dhoni bat together against him was an invitation for a quiet death over. Since 2022, Jadeja and Dhoni strike at under 110 against spin in the IPL. Their averages of 41.75 and 57 against spin also tell you they don't even try to hit them. Doing that for a whole over with 45 required off three overs was taking pragmatism to an absurd extreme. Theekshana bowled that 18th over for six runs with hardly a shot played in anger.
Is CSK's method of taking the chase deep still working for them?
As it turned out, RR defended 39 in the last two overs even without going to Archer, who had conceded just 13 in his three overs.
CSK find themselves in quite the situation. They admit they still need Dhoni's leadership on the field. Even if they decide to use Dhoni's leadership from the sidelines, the only other Indian wicketkeeper they have has only ever played one match for his state team in any format. Even when Dhoni gets the opportune entry point in terms of number of balls left in the innings, he can't be paired with Jadeja.
So now they need the top order to almost bat as if they don't have the services of an Impact Player or be clever in whom they pair Dhoni with. It is not a CSK thing to go left-field, but they could perhaps look to use Dhoni as a pinch-hitter when they can pair him with a spin-hitter, say, Dube.