“It is better to include a fast bowler than playing MS Dhoni”: Harbhajan Singh

MS Dhoni batted at No. 9 for the first time in his T20 career, but his decision ultimately backfired as he was out for a golden duck during the IPL 2024 match against Punjab Kings on Sunday. Dhoni has played the role of finisher for CSK this season and he comes to bat with 1-2 overs remaining in most of the matches. Against PBKS, he allowed both Mitchell Santner and Shardul Thakur to bat ahead of him before coming in in the 19th over. Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh was not impressed with the decision and said that if Dhoni is going to bat at No. 9, then CSK should include another fast bowler in his place.

“If MS Dhoni wants to bat at number 9 then he should not play. It is better to include a fast bowler in the playing eleven. He is a decision-making person and he has disappointed his team by not coming out to bat.”

“Shardul Thakur came ahead of him. Thakur can never hit shots like Dhoni and I don’t understand why Dhoni made this mistake. Nothing happens without his permission and I am not ready to accept that this decision to demote him was taken by someone else.

“CSK needed to score runs quickly and Dhoni has done that in the last matches. It was surprising that he lagged behind in the crucial match against Punjab Kings. Even if CSK wins today, I will still call Dhoni. Let people say whatever they want. I will say only what is right,” Harbhajan Singh said on Star Sports.

Talking about the match, Chennai Super Kings registered a crucial win over Punjab Kings thanks to the all-round performance of Ravindra Jadeja. Thanks to this win, they are at third place in the IPL 2024 points table.

“Everyone believed that the wicket was slow. The bounce was also low. Just the start we got, we were thinking of reaching 180-200. After losing the wicket, we felt 160-170 was a good score. Don’t know what he’s doing.” But even in the preseason he (on Simarjeet) was hitting 150 kmph, he didn’t get many chances, but it’s never too late, we were thinking of going with the impact batsman, but then we thought. The batsman will give 10-15 runs, but he could give 2-3 wickets. Some people were suffering from flu. Till the morning it was not even sure who was going to play to win or not, I am really happy with that,” Ruturaj said after the match.