IPL 2021 | Was looking to attack, so bowled Chahar's overs upfront, reveals MS Dhoni 

IPL 2021 | Was looking to attack, so bowled Chahar's overs upfront, reveals MS Dhoni 

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MS Dhoni was full of praise for Deepak Chahar and Moeen Ali

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IPL

CSK skipper MS Dhoni, speaking during the post-match presentation, revealed that he was trying to be aggressive and that's why finished all of Deepak Chahar's overs upfront. He also reflected on batting Moeen Ali higher up the order and stated it's an effort to get the best out of the all-rounder.

Deepak Chahar's stars were on the fall for a considerable amount of time. He had reached a phase where people had even started writing off his credentials as a new ball enforcer. But, today, against Punjab Kings, he made up for all the disappointment and broke the back of PBKS' batting, claiming four wickets for 13 runs in his quota of overs. Punjab could never recover from the early jolts and went on to lose the game after a terrible batting performance. 

With MS Dhoni, we have seen over the years, he doesn't shy away from bowing out the overs of his swing bowlers upfront, if they are delivering the goods. When he was the Indian captain, he used to bowl out Bhuvneshwar Kumar upfront, at times. And today, with Chennai on the front foot, Dhoni was on the attack, exhausting Chahar's overs upfront. Speaking on that, the former Indian skipper remarked that given the multiple resources that he has at his disposal, he didn't have to think much in bowling out Chahar, a move that did wonders. 

"Chahar is somebody who has developed as a death overs bowler too. If I'm looking to attack and there is movement I try to bowl him out because he gets more out of the pitch. As a bowling unit we have more resources. I was looking to attack, so bowled his four overs and it helps in becoming fit because to bowl 4 successive overs you need to be fit," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation. 

One of the most impressive performers for CSK this season has turned out to be Moeen Ali. He has been assigned the no.3 position. And the left-hander has delivered too, making 36 and 46 respectively. The thing that has stood out about him has been his aggressive intent, that has helped the team to play with a good momentum. Reflecting on Moeen's batting position, Dhoni stated that it has been done to get the best out of him. 

"We wanted Moeen to bat high because we wanted to make the best use of resources we have. He's a very good timer of the ball, plays authentic shots."

MS Dhoni has been known for using DRS in one of the most efficient manners. There was an LBW shout in the game that Chahar wanted to review. However, Dhoni didn't go for the review and remarked that DRS exists to take away the blunders from the game and that's why he didn't go for it. 

"I thought the LBW shout (against SRK) was high. So told him no we are not reviewing. I have always felt DRS is there to take the howlers away and not just to take a chance. You only take a chance if it's the last over of the game or it's someone very important."

There has been a lot of talks about the way the wicket has played at the Wankhede in the last two games. In fact, there have been some complains too as to why the wicket isn't playing flat any longer. However, MS Dhoni seems to be enjoying the deck in Mumbai and termed it a 'good pitch'. 

"Makes me feel very old (smiles, on being asked how he feels to have played 200 games). Been a very long journey. Different conditions, countries, a very interesting journey. I think 2011 was the last time we were happy with the Chennai wicket. After that however hard the groundsmen tried we were not happy with the wicket. Especially after relaying the ball doesn't come on to the bat nicely. Difficult to play big shots. Here we have a very good pitch. Movement off the seam, bounce and runs. Not swinging a lot, may be something to do with the ball. So when there's no dew it seams for an extended period," Dhoni said.

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