MS Dhoni's baffling decision: Batting at no. 9 in IPL 2025

MS Dhoni, the legendary player, opted to bat at position nine in the game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in the current IPL 2025. With 197 runs to chase on home turf, Chennai Super Kings were left 26/3 at one point and continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. In the given circumstances, Dhoni was supposed to push himself up in the batting order, but he did not do that and went out to bat at number 9. Now from cricket fans to experts, Dhoni's move is being questioned.

Rachin did not find anyone's support

Let us inform that CSK's beginning to chase the target of 197 runs was not good. Rahul Tripathi, who had come to open, was given out for 5 runs, then captain Ruturaj Gaikwad also departed without opening the account. Deepak Hooda was promoted to number four, but he was not able to do much and went back to the pavilion after making 4 runs. CSK lost three wickets in 26 runs. Along with Sam Curran, Rachin Ravindra attempted to manage the innings, but Sam Curran caught Krunal Pandya off his fellow cricketer Livingston. CSK wickets then fell at intervals.

CSK wickets fall again

While on the other hand, with the collapse of the wicket, all the run rates were also rising continuously, because of which CSK batsmen were put under pressure. When Shivam Dubey's wicket got dismissed, cricket lovers thought that perhaps Dhoni would bat at number 7, but he did not bat and sent Ravindra Jadeja to bat, Dhoni did not even bat at number eight, this surprised the fans. Till now, Chennai's chances of winning were also getting weaker. Ashwin batted at number eight. After this, when Dhoni came to bat at number 9, the game had moved beyond Chennai's reach. Dhoni arrived on the ground only to cut the gap of runs.

Cricketers also raised questions

A few old cricketers such as Aakash Chopra, Irfan Pathan and Robin Uthappa criticized the Ranchi-born cricketer for lower-order batting. Chopra and Uthappa asserted that Dhoni's number 9 batting "does not make sense" since his end-contribution was good for the fans, but they wish the cricketers to provide themselves more time to win the game for the team.

Chopra posted, "CSK fans enjoy Dhoni walking out on the field and smashing sixes. But even CSK fans would desire their team to emerge victorious. And with the way Dhoni has been batting of late, it is natural to assume that he will give himself sufficient time to win games for CSK. It was not appropriate to have Ashwin ahead of Dhoni against RCB."

The 17-year wait is over

 Let us inform you that RCB ended the 17-year wait by beating Chennai. Due to RCB skipper Rajat Patidar's fifty and Josh Hazlewood's spell of excellence, RCB achieved their second consecutive victory in IPL 2025.