MS Dhoni is a nightmare for opposition captains, asserts Faf du Plessis

05/01/2018

Faf du Plessis believes that CSK skipper MS Dhoni can make life difficult for opposition captains due to his ability of hitting bowlers to any part of the ground. The former South African captain also praised Ambati Rayudu’s versatility after he was dropped to the No.4 spot against DD.

Chennai have been almost unstoppable in the 2018 IPL and lead the table with six wins in eight games. A huge part of the Chennai success story has been the form of their skipper MS Dhoni. The former Indian captain’s critics have been calling for his head for quite a while now due to his abject performances for the national team. However, in this season’s IPL, not only is he averaging a cool 71.50 in eight games but he has already scored more runs than he did in the entire 2016 campaign and is four runs short of his last season’s total. Du Plessis had some special words reserved for his skipper after Dhoni scored a 22-ball 50 to take Chennai past the 200-run mark against the Daredevils.

"He (Dhoni) is in really good form at the moment, so it's extremely tough to bowl to him when he is in a form like that. He has got such a big arch and if you want to bowl wide he can still hit you to the leg side," Du Plessis said during the post-match press conference, reported TOI.

"He has got a lot of options, so it makes life difficult for a bowler and a captain because he can hit any ball to wherever he wants to. That kind of form is obviously very important to us.”

Another reason for Chennai’s incredible run this year has been the performance of Ambati Rayudu who has scored 329 in just seven matches at an average of 47 runs. However, in order to accommodate du Plessis in the side, Rayadu was dropped from his opening role to the No.4 spot. But with an impressive 41 off 24 balls, the Indian star showed his versatility which was applauded by the South African.

"Rayadu's flexibility has really impressed me. I have really enjoyed watching him bat in this IPL. The ability to come in and score boundaries from the first ball is a very difficult skill. That ability to come at four and five and score a boundary straight-away, not a lot of people can do that," du Plessis added.

"With Suresh (Raina) at three and (Rayadu) at four, if we get off to a solid start, the two can just come in and play their natural game which can be dangerous for the opposition. So we are fortunate that we have got a lot of options in the batting unit.”

MS Dhoni is a nightmare for opposition captains, asserts Faf du Plessis

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