3 brilliant decisions by MS Dhoni as CSK captain

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are the second-most successful franchise in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with four title wins. Credit for this success goes to their talismanic skipper MS Dhoni.

Since taking over as CSK's captain in the inaugural IPL season, Dhoni has helped his team reach the playoffs a staggering 11 times. Out of that, the franchise has made the final a record nine times.

CSK haven't really had many superstars among their ranks through the years. But it was just the brilliance of captain MS Dhoni that got the best out of the players that he had and helped them punch above their weight.

The likes of Suresh Raina, Albie Morkel, Murali Vijay, Doug Bollinger, Faf du Plessis, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ambati Rayudu, Deepak Chahar, etc. became absolute match-winners under the outstanding leadership of MS Dhoni.

As the 40-year-old approaches the twilight of his IPL career, let's take a look at three of the best decisions taken by MS Dhoni as CSK captain:

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#3 Persisting with Shane Watson as an opener in IPL 2018

After the IPL 2018 mega auction, quite a few eyebrows were raised as CSK picked most of the players who were on the wrong side of 30. Many thought that the lack of youth in the team would cost them a place in the playoffs.

One of the decisions that MS Dhoni made was promoting Australian all-rounder Shane Watson to the top of the order. Ambati Rayudu till then had a good partnership going alongside Faf du Plesis.

However, MS Dhoni's plan to make the most of the powerplay and give Watson that license to go hard at the top worked wonders for CSK. In 15 games, Watson scored a massive 555 runs, including a sensational 117* to blow away the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the final.

Promoting Watson to the top was one of the main reasons why CSK were able to win their third IPL title in 2018.

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#2 Using Ravichandran Ashwin to get rid of the dangerous Chris Gayle in IPL 2011 final

Chris Gayle took the IPL by storm in the 2011 season. He scored a massive 608 runs from just 12 games at a mind-boggling strike rate of 183.13 with two 100s and three half-centuries. The Caribbean star almost single-handedly took the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to their second IPL final.

Until that point, no team had defended their IPL title and CSK faced a stiff test in the final to stop the 'Gayle Storm'. But Dhoni had a trick up his sleeve in the form of off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

MS Dhoni was one of the few captains who had introduced spin to great effect in the powerplay and he used the same ploy against Gayle. Ashwin repaid the faith shown in him as the dangerous Gayle was dismissed for a duck. That proved to be a huge blow to RCB as they could only muster 147/8 while chasing a massive target of 206.

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#1 Expert field-placement to trump MI's Kieron Pollard in the IPL 2010 final

In their second IPL final in 2010, CSK were the second favorites against table-toppers Mumbai Indians (MI). Sachin Tendulkar had led his men brilliantly until that point and with the final on their home turf, it looked certain that MI would bring home their maiden IPL title.

CSK posted a competitive total of 168/5 in their first innings, but still had to bowl well against a star-studded MI batting line-up. The CSK bowlers kept on taking wickets at regular intervals and MI were down to their last hopes in the hard-hitting Kieron Pollard.

Just when all MI hopes were fading, Pollard smashed Doug Bollinger for 22 runs in the 18th over to bring the equation down to 33 runs from two overs. The big West Indian seemed to be the only one standing between CSK and their maiden IPL title.

Observing that Pollard was hitting straight down the ground, MS Dhoni placed a fielder right behind the bowler. Pollard tried to smash Albie Morkel down the ground on the very next ball, but only managed to find that straightish fielder at mid-off in Matthew Hayden.

It was a killer blow to MI as this fantastic captaincy by MS Dhoni gave CSK their first-ever IPL title.

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