The Curious case of Captain Cool

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Whether MSD is still fit to bat or not?





 

 

Ever since that, heart break for every Indian Cricket Fan at Cricket World Cup, 2019, (England) Semi-final, we have never witnessed MSD in India colours anymore. His retirement came after almost 1 year from that day. As a cricketer he has achieved everything. He is one of the greatest to play the game of Cricket in World Cricket. His contribution towards cricket is extremely superior. As a Captain, as a player (Bat/Wicket Keeper) he is among the greatest of all time. As he is still active in IPL as a player his performance has been a point of interest for every cricket fan. An answer to a very common and curios question every person wants to know “Whether MSD is still fit to bat or not?” His stats speaks a lot for his fine carrier in International level. But our focus will be on current form, so we will look at what performance he has given after his retirement, in World’s biggest Cricketing league IPL with his franchise.

 

As we can see, there is clear picture that there is a significant dip in run scoring for MSD, especially in last 3 seasons where he featured in IPL after retirement and with no other proper competitive cricket. In these 3 seasons he managed to score only 546 runs from 44 games with a very poor average around 25, having strike rate of 116 and just a single half-century, which resulted in CSK’s most failure seasons in IPL history in 2020 & 2022 (Not Finished in top 4). There were other batters there, but his impact from bat matters a lot for his team and in these seasons he lacked that. And also age is not in his side. So to answer that question, “Whether MSD is still fit to bat or not”? , we might say a NO to it.

 

But the flip side of it is though he is not the same batsman and form is not with him , but his leadership qualities has been top class , which is a vital element in his team’s epic turn around in 2021 season where CSK lift the trophy for 4th time. And in that season where he struggled to score, his finest knock came against DC in the qualifiers and world saw Vintage Dhoni back. And in this year’s IPL he showed the glimpse of old Dhoni. Although CSK failed to qualify to playoffs for 2nd time after 2020 but he said he will be coming next season to play in front of their home crowd.  

 

On the basis of form and statistics he shouldn’t fit to bat any more, particularly in this era, where a lot of importance is given to strike rate and big run scoring. But sometimes scoring big runs doesn’t matter, if you can’t win games or title for your team. Even if you score less but contribute to your team’s victory, it is much more precious. And in CSK team he is doing the same. He is leading from behind allowing others to perform upfront. And still he is scoring those necessary and quick 20-30 runs with a very good strike rate in crunch situation. As far as, considering faith of the franchise CSK is more of a family rather than a professional setup. They really value their players and for them MSD is everything. So for some people it would be NO, but the role he is playing in CSK, the franchise and their fans must say a big YES, just not today but also to many years to come. But as he him-self stated that he will come to Chennai and thanks to all the fans of the franchise in their home ground, so we can except 2023 IPL season will be the last for the one of the absolute legend in India.

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