MS Dhoni irritated at Chennai batsmen failing to innovate under pressure post Kolkata loss

Its been a testing season for Chennai's captain MS Dhoni. After announcing his retirement from international cricket earlier this year, Dhoni would have hoped to get back on the field and show the world what he was still capable of. But after a dismal showing at the Dream11 IPL 2020 so far, the Captain Cool's patience seems to have run out. The generally relaxed MSD seems to have had enough of the losing captain speeches this year. 

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Dhoni loses his cool with Chennai's batsmen 

In a rare show of emotion, 'Captain Cool' MS Dhoni put the burden of his team's loss squarely on the shoulders of the batsmen. Chennai lost a close game against Kolkata at the Dream11 IPL 2020 last night. The side was deeply let down by its batting performance, after falling to chase a par score of 167. What should've been an easy win for the experienced team, ended up being a massive struggle of a chase. 

In the post-match presentation, MS Dhoni said that even though the bowlers had leaked some runs in the initial overs, they had deftly pulled the score back to a manageable target. Dwayne Bravo produced some stunning death overs bowling, finishing with figures of 3 for 37, having conceded a stingy 5 runs in the last over. Meanwhile, Sam Curran, Shardul Thakur and Karn Sharma took two wickets each to bowl out Kolkata in 20 overs. 

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Talking about Chennai's batting, Dhoni expressed some irritation with the middle order, which had a spectacular collapse. Despite being set up perfectly with a 50 by Shane Watson, Chennai's batting order could not withstand the Kolkata bowling attack and lost consecutive wickets in overs 13, 14 and then 17 and 18. MSD, having promoted himself up the order at No.4, managed only 11 off 12 balls, before succumbing to Varun Chakravarthy.

Kedar Jadhav was also singled out by fans for his abysmal 7* off 12 balls.  Dhoni also commented on the lack of innovation shown by his batsmen and called them out on their failure to adapt to Kolkata's bowling.

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Chennai on the Dream11 IPL points table 

Having already lost four games at the Dream11 IPL 2020, it is no doubt that the entire team, including MS Dhoni, are now under immense pressure. Never before in the history of the Dream11 IPL have Chennai lost more than seven games. Another three/four losses could put them out of contention for a playoffs spot - something that has never happened before with the team. Considering the tough competition at the Dream11 IPL 2020, Dhoni might be right in demanding more from his players. Now at the fifth place on the table, Chennai will have to regroup to make a comeback against Bangalore this Saturday.

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Image Credits: BCCI