MS Dhoni in action for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2025© BCCI
Former Indian cricket team skipper MS Dhoni is widely regarded as one of the best finishers in the game. However, in the recent past, he has failed to successfully complete run chases on multiple occasions for Chennai Super Kings in the IPL. The situation was once again the same on Sunday as he slammed 16 off 11 balls against Rajasthan Royals but was dismissed on the first ball of the final over as his team fell short of the target. Following the loss, his former teammate – Harbhajan Singh – revealed a stat that massively tarnishes his image of a ‘chasemaster’. Harbhajan said that Dhoni seems to be a problem for CSK at this moment and his numbers are not helping his case at all.
“I would like to present some stats. Dhoni sahab bahut bade khiladi hain, par jab who aaye hain, match khatam ho chuka tha (Dhoni has been a great player, but by the time he came out to bat, the match was all but over). Whenever Dhoni has chased since IPL 2023 in winning causes, he has scored just 3 runs in 9 balls, without a single boundary or six. But in losing causes, Dhoni has scored 166 runs in 84 balls with 13 fours and 13 sixes. This means that Dhoni averages just 8 in matches CSK have won while in the games lost, his average is 49. Who wants to look at matches where they lost? And this, I think, is a major issue CSK needs to fix,” Harbhajan said on his YouTube channel.
“The team management needs to look at this differently. Send Dhoni up and leave him alone. Tell him to smash, because if he scores runs, then that would matter. Otherwise, there isn’t much to nitpick. He still smashes them but these stats aren’t materialising,” the former Indian cricket team spinner added.
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