
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni's struggles against spin have been left exposed once again in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021. Dhoni, who was once a prolific player of spin, has continuously got bamboozled by spinners in the IPL over the last few years now. The googly has been one of Dhoni's major weaknesses.
Dhoni once again struggled against spin and was bamboozled by a googlyfrom spinner Ravi Bishnoi in CSK's clash against Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Thursday (October 07). Dhoni tried to go after the spinners in the game but ended up miscuing a drive and the ball crashed into the stumps after taking an edge off his bat.
Former team India cricketer Irfan Pathan expressed his disappointment over Dhoni's poor show with the bat against spin in the ongoing season and criticised the CSK captain for his continuous struggles against googlies. Earlier this season, KKR spinner Varun Chakravarthy had also castled Dhoni with a googly.
"It is very disappointing to see him bat like that. It is understandable if you get out against the fast bowlers but Dhoni is not able to read the googly. It has happened repeatedly. It is not that it has happened for the first time. He got out to the googly against Varun Chakravarthy as well," Pathan said on Star Sports.
"Before this also, when the ball is coming on the stumps and he is not getting the chance to free his arms, there are problems. Here again, the ball was coming in from outside the off stump, he got an inside edge, this happens when you use the bottom hand a lot," he added.
Dhoni has been enduring a second successive abysmal campaign in the IPL this year. He had managed to notch up only 200 runs in IPL 2020 and has continued his lean patch this year. The CSK skipper has so far scored only 96 runs in 14 matches this season. CSK have already qualified for the playoffs and are likely to finish on the second spot on the points table.