MS Dhoni’s 16-ball 37-run cameo, laced with four boundaries and three sixes against Delhi Capitals on Sunday (Mar 31) has led to suggestions from former Australia and India players that the veteran batter should come up the order for Chennai Super Kings. 

Australian pacer Brett Lee was the first one to make the case for Dhoni to be pushed up the order by the CSK management.  

“He was on tonight, he was not rusty. I do want more from him in terms of batting. Get yourself up the order. He is outstanding, his brain is still nice and sharp, CSK please get MS Dhoni up the order,” the former Aussie fast bowler told the host streamer.

Meanwhile, Lee’s former teammate Shane Watson waxed lyrical about Dhoni’s performance and his unreal shot-making. 

“With MS Dhoni in this type of form – this is exactly what you want from him. His power and the skill he has got under pressure when the bowlers are really scrambling to execute, his ability to win a game out of nowhere we have seen so many times through his career,” said Watson. 

“Some of his shots he played tonight, that’s as good a shot I have ever seen him play. The one over cover is one of the harder shots to play, but he is still doing it,” the former Australia all-rounder added.

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Kaif echoes similar sentiment 

Cricketer-turned-pundit Mohammed Kaif echoed a similar sentiment and said Dhoni did not look like a player who had not played cricket in the last year or so. 

“It didn’t seem like he wasn’t playing cricket regularly. He hasn’t played Ranji or club cricket matches or is he playing for India. He is just playing IPL to IPL,” said Kaif. 

“But the way he batted today, this No.8 isn’t his spot. He should be playing at No.4 or No.5. Come in and playing a few deliveries but Dhoni is batting way too low at No.8. The form that we saw today, that spot is too low and you would like to see him come early and help CSK win matches,” he added. 

Dhoni came to the crease when the game was all but gone for CSK. Depsite the mounting asking run rate, the World Cup winning captain kept his cool and reduced the deficit to only 20 runs which helped CSK avoid a major dent to net run rate.  

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