"It was a really poor call not to take those runs" - Simon Doull unimpressed with MS Dhoni's blistering knock against DC

Former New Zealand pacer Simon Doull wasn't impressed by MS Dhoni's breathtaking 37* off 16 against the Delhi Capitals (DC) on Sunday, March 31, due to the veteran wicketkeeper-batter's denial of singles in the penultimate over.

With the game almost out of reach, the 42-year-old kept the strike despite having Ravindra Jadeja at the non-striker end by denying singles with under two overs left and in excess of 40 runs still required. Eventually, with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) needing 41 off the final over, Dhoni smashed Anrich Nortje for 20 runs with two maximum and as many boundaries.

Yet, the 19th over by Mukesh Kumar saw Dhoni dot three consecutive deliveries before a single off the fifth delivery,

Speaking on Cricbuzz ahead of CSK's next outing against SRH, Doull felt Dhoni made a poor call by blocking dot deliveries and denying singles.

"I know there was a lot of hoopla about Dhoni's innings but he blocked a lot of balls. He faced a lot of dots and then when he started to not take runs, I could not believe what I was watching. I know he is the great MS Dhoni but it was a poor call. It was a really poor call not to take those runs," said Doull.

"You are still trying to win the game and I know it is his first bat in a long time, first bat of the season and he is probably thinking at some stage of maybe getting to find some form but I didn't agree with it. I didn't agree with what happened in that situation. To me, it was a really poor look. I was watching it and thinking you know, it didn't look good for me. That just didn't look quite right to me when he wasn't taking runs," he added.

Despite Dhoni's onslaught that had fans buzzing, CSK suffered a 20-run defeat, their first of the 2024 IPL season.

Yet, it must be noted that Jadeja was struggling with his ball-striking throughout the innings, finishing on 21* off 17.

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CSK will look to bounce back against SRH today

While the loss to DC came as a surprise, CSK remain well-placed at third on the points table with two wins in three outings.

The defending champions kicked off IPL 2024 with a thumping win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home by six wickets. The home cooking continued in their second encounter of the season, defeating Gujarat Titans (GT) by a massive 63 runs.

CSK will look to get back to winning ways when they take on SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their fourth match of IPL 2024 at Hyderabad today.

SRH have endured a mixed bag thus far, winning only one out of their three games against MI.