MS Dhoni‘s role in the Indian team has been that of a finisher and it’s fair to say that he has earned his reputation of being a dangerous batsman at No.6.
Despite his success in the middle-order, there have long been calls for the Indian Cricket icon to be bumped up into a premier batting role.
Those calls now seem to have been answered though Dhoni is no stranger to a switch-up, given he has previously opened the batting for his country.
However, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) fans are likely to the 36-year-old make hay with the bat again, this time, within the top five in the 11th edition of the IPL, according to coach Stephen Fleming.
Fleming was quoted by Cricbuzz as saying: “MS will bat relatively high. It’s not necessarily a position with him, but a time that we may choose depending on what conditions we see. But he will definitely play a more prominent role as a batsman.
“We’ve picked (Kedar) Jadhav, (Ambati) Rayudu, (Ravindra) Jadeja & (Dwayne) Bravo so we can plan the middle phase. Looking at our side, there are a lot of multi-skilled players, and while not diminishing their main skills there is a lot of options that we can use.”
Some intense briefing from #ChinnaThala on the Chepauk decks! #WhistlePodu pic.twitter.com/537k7j3IZB
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 2, 2018
While the former New Zealand captain believes CSK are side that will rely on their spin bowlers, he feels that consistency will be important for the young Indian seamers – Shardul Thakur and Deepak Chahar.
Thakur was handed the job of bowling in the death overs in a practice game recently, but the 26-year old gave away more than a few boundaries off full tosses.
But New Zealand great Fleming still has Thakur in his death-overs plans for the IPL.
He said: “I do see him (Thakur) as a bowler for the slog and he’s done it for India. He has been with me in Pune Supergiant during his developmental phase. He has got real talent. The challenge for those two players (Thakur and Chahar) is to find their consistency in performance.
“In a training game, often you don’t get up as much as you do for a real match. We saw a drop in standards. It was good learning and that’s part of a practice match. It’s about just understanding where your players are at. They will be working hard in the next few days,” he explained.
While England’s Mark Wood and South Africa’s sensation Lungi Ngidi are set to join the squad soon, Fleming believes the yellow brigade have all bases covered in their pace bowling department.
“Wood and Ngidi have got some good pace. Shane Watson is a savvy new-ball bowler and we have several young Indian pacers. Ngidi bowled well against India and we feel his style of bowling would suit well for the plans we have got. Wood has got a skiddy trajectory which offers something challenging. We also got the options of using spin as well,” said the coach.
