In the recent IPL 2025 match on Tuesday, MS Dhoni finally made it to bat at the No. 5 spot, something fans have been asking for quite a while. This was during the game against the Punjab Kings, and while Dhoni scored a quick 27 runs off just 12 balls, he couldn’t quite lead his team to victory as they chased a pretty hefty target of 220 runs. Unfortunately for the Chennai Super Kings, this loss marked their fourth defeat of the season. Former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull chimed in, expressing his frustration over the franchise’s habit of keeping Dhoni lower in the batting order.
Doull pointed out that Dhoni’s hitting was impressive, noting, He hit three sixes in those 12 balls. The rest of the team managed to hit only five sixes altogether. This shows that he’s still got that hitting power. That’s why we’ve been saying he should bat higher in the order. If Dhoni had come in earlier when the team was 2 wickets down, he could have made a big difference. It’s not really on him. He shared these insights during a chat on Cricbuzz, suggesting that Dhoni still has a lot to offer.
Another decision made during the match that caught everyone’s eye was the choice to ‘retire out’ opener Devon Conway. The Kiwi batsman actually scored the most runs for CSK, piling up 69 runs off 49 balls. Although he was the top scorer, he wasn’t able to keep up the required run rate in the final overs, which led the management to bring in Ravindra Jadeja as a substitute. Unfortunately, Jadeja could only manage 9 runs from 5 balls and ended up not being out, but the change didn’t help CSK at all.
Doull commented on this retirement, saying, It was a curious decision to retire out Conway. He had a good handle on the pitch, but his scoring wasn’t fast enough. A target like 190 requires a better strike rate, and he was just scoring at 140. They didn’t make that decision early enough, which left Jadeja with no time to adjust.
Whenever CSK officials have been questioned about why Dhoni isn’t moved up in the batting lineup, they often say it’s because he’s not fit enough to handle batting for 8 to 10 overs. Even in this game, Dhoni walked in to bat with just over four overs left and the team still needing 69 runs to win the match. It seems like fans and former players alike are still wondering if there’s more to Dhoni’s game we could be seeing if he were given more of a chance.
