IPL 2018| Ambati Rayudu’s role as a floater gives CSK a lot of options, believes MS Dhoni
After Ambati Rayudu’s sensational knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday, MS Dhoni has confirmed that using Rayudu as a floater has really worked in CSK's favor. The former Indian captain skipper has also revealed that Rayudu can be tried as an opener again, in the upcoming matches.
Ambati Rayudu’s brilliant knock against Sunrisers Hyderabad has given ample opportunity to CSK management to reshuffle the batting line up almost at will. The skipper himself feels the importance of Rayudu’s knock against their win over SRH on Sunday. After losing the toss, CSK were asked to bat first, looked in trouble at 32 for 2 in 8 overs but with the help of Ambati Rayudu’s brilliant innings of 79 out of 37 balls and Suresh Raina’s 54 from 43 balls, Chennai managed to reach a respectable total of 181. And a good combined bowling effort restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad by 4 runs.
“Rayudu was fantastic. When we selected the team, one of the things was where to make him play. With Kedar (Jadhav) also in the side, it was difficult. I had to make space for him because I’ve always rated him highly. I’ve seen him bat up the order, whether it’s opening or No. 3, he looks confident. Whenever he hits the big shots, he maintains the shape which is important. Faf wasn’t available, so I could make him open. Now that Faf came back, for the best of everyone, Faf needed to open and Rayudu had to bat down the order. He’s somebody who can bat at different numbers. But I prefer him opening the batting as he’s much more dangerous there,” Dhoni said after the match as quoted by Cricinfo.
Once Rayudu’s brilliance took Chennai to a big score, Deepak Chahar took three wickets in quick succession with the new ball. It was a display of Chennai’s confidence in their young Indian pacers Chahar and Shardul Thakur – although the latter has not performed up to the expectation. But the former Indian skipper confirmed both are performing quite nicely in nets and he is in a mood for giving them a longer run.
“They’re doing really well in the nets. What’s important is to give them as many games as possible. You might be going well in the nets but you need a few games to get into the groove. Deepak swings the ball, is accurate, and lends balance with his batting down the order. He looks confident and is executing really well. Shardul had a few bad games. Last international series wasn’t good for him. But he has the right attitude to get back, and also the variations. Yes, there have been errors, but I’m confident he’ll come back soon,” Dhoni concluded.
Chennai Super Kings is currently sitting at the top of the table with 8 points after winning 4 out of their 5 matches so far.
