Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni has began preparations for IPL 2022 in full-swing. The defending champions will kick off their campaign against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on March 26 at the Wankhede Stadium.
Dhoni, who had a lean patch with the bat last season, is keen to return to his usual self in the 15th edition of the tournament. He has joined the CSK camp in Surat right from the beginning as he been sweating out in the nets.
The Chennai franchise gave their ardent fans a glimpse of Dhoni’s big-hitting drills from the nets by sharing a video on their official Instagram handle. They captioned it:
“đ: SHđ„T MAcHI! One for the fam back home!”
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With MS Dhoni looking good in the nets, he will look to power his side’s chances of defending the title in the upcoming edition. Across 16 games, he could muster only 114 runs at an average of 16.29, with 18* as the highest score.
“There is a slight problem for sure” – Aakash Chopra on CSK’s death bowling
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 Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra opined that CSK lacks effective slog over bowlers ahead of IPL 2022.
In death overs, neither Chris Jordan nor Adam Milne are reliable, according to him. Chopra also pointed out that Dwayne Bravo is past his prime and nearing his swansong, which means the side cannot solely rely on him for the task.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Aakash said:
“There is Dwayne Bravo, Chris Jordan, Adam Milne – among them Chris Jordan is probably a death bowler, Dwayne Bravo is 39 and will be about 42-43 by the time this cycle is over, there is a slight problem for sure. Josh Hazlewood was also not your gun death bowler, Deepak Chahar is not your gun death bowler, Dwayne Bravo’s best is behind him, Adam Milne is not your death bowler. But Dhoni somehow manages it.”
CSK squad: Ravindra Jadeja, MS Dhoni, Moeen Ali, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dwayne Bravo, Ambati Rayudu, Robin Uthappa, Deepak Chahar, KM Asif, Tushar Deshpande, KM Asif, Shivam Dube, Maheesh Theekshana, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Samarjeet Singh, Devon Conway, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Subhranshu Senapati, Adam Milne, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, C Hari Nishaanth, N Jagadeesan, Chris Jordan, K Bhagath Varma.