As the IPL 2022 is underway in full swing, defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Sunday lost their third match in a row when they took on Punjab Kings (PBKS) at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. Apart from Shivam Dube, almost all batters of the 'Men in Yellow' struggled during the CSK vs PBKS match. Chasing a total of 181, CSK were bundled in just 18 overs. Now, former Indian cricketer and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has reacted to the CSK vs PBKS match and pinned the blame of the defeat on MS Dhoni.
While speaking to Star Sports, Sunil Gavaskar lauded Shivam Dube's valiant knock of 57 off 30 balls. Gavaskar stated that Shivam Dube lacked from the other end, even MS Dhoni was not able to support him as he was playing many dot balls. "With MSD, what you see is that even if he doesn't start hitting the big ones, he is moving the strike along, getting those ones and twos. He wasn't quite able to do that this time around. That's where CSK got stuck just that little bit," said Gavaskar.
"If they had a situation where Shivam Dube was hitting the ball so well, they needed to get a move on along with him. That didn't quite happen. Look at those some of those dot bills that he played, yes, later on, he made up with the boundaries. When you are looking to score 20 runs an over, that's tough for the best of players, it's not easy," added Gavaskar.
Sunil Gavaskar further said, "It was a high-class innings from Shivam Dube. Unfortunately, no one could support him. Even MS was off his game a little bit with a stroke rate of 80. They were playing catch-up cricket."
It is pertinent to mention here that Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni stitched a 62-run stand to steady the ship and keep CSK in the chape with the former playing a fine counter-attacking knock.
Coming to IPL 2022 points table, CSK is placed at the second last after losing three successive matches. Now, it will be interesting to see how the newly-made captain Ravindra Jadeja will lift his team up after the hattrick of loses in the Tata IPL 2022.