‘Dhoni came in early. Usually he bats in 19th or 20th over,’ mocks Sehwag

Virender Sehwag mocked M S Dhoni's decision to bat down the order after the Chennai Super Kings stalwart drew flak for delaying his entry in an improbable chase against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Chennai on March 28.

In his heydays, Dhoni has played several match-winning innings for his franchise and Team India. But in recent years, he has shown reluctance to thrust himself into situations that require his hard-hitting skills. "He came in early, didn't he?" mocked Sehwag in a post-match show on Cricbuzz with former player Manoj Tiwary.

"Usually, he comes in the 19th or 20th over. This time, he came to bat in the 16th over. Either he came to bat early, or the other batters threw away their wickets early," Sehwag said with a smile.

Sehwag, a fearless batter who opened for Team India for years, had his reasons for mocking his former teammate, who is also regarded as one of the greatest captains in modern cricket. Earlier in the match, Dhoni had produced a brilliant stumping that left cricket fans in awe. His quick glove work had given no chance to Phil Salt, who had only slightly left his crease. But all that took a back seat when CSK's response began.

Chasing RCB's 196/7, Dhoni came in to bat at 7 following Ravichandran Ashwin's dismissal, which left CSK reeling at 99/7. Dhoni was expected to enter the act when CSK were 80/6 in 12.5 overs, when 117 was required off 43 balls. But by the time he came in to bat, the asking rate had skyrocketed, with CSK needing 98 from 28 deliveries. He made 30 off 16, but it wasn't enough, and CSK lost heavily by 50 runs.

"MS Dhoni and his team have decided that he will only play this long or play just this many balls, so that is what he is doing. So, I'm not surprised.

Tiwary, who is also a former national team player, thinks the coaching staff at CSK are too scare to tell the talismanic batter to take responsibility early on. But Sehwag continued in the same vein, perhaps because he has accepted the fact that Dhoni was adamant.

"What will change just because of us saying this. We have been saying this for the last four years. When he was playing for the Indian team, we used to say he must bat at 4, he didn't come up.

"We said he must bat up the order when he was the skipper, even then he didn't do it. Now, he is on the verge of retirement.

"Even if he had come in early nothing much could have changed. The only thing was, had he batted early, he would have got out early and we could have ended the show early," Sehwag quipped.