The CSK batted like a "bunch of novices and minnows" from the very first ball of their innings in this very important match against SRH today on 22nd May. CSK never looked like being in the game for two-third of the innings, having surrendered the advantage to SRH in the initial overs and caught everyone by surprise by snatching victory under the nose of SRH who could not match CSK in the last overs. CSK barged in thunderously with sixes and fours in the last few overs and turned the tables against SRH. The SRH bowlers whose reputation was unduly inflated by pathetic, careless and irresponsible batting display from the CSK's batsmen of repute like Watson, Raina, Rayudu,Bravo and Jadeja. The culprit was Raina who opened the 'floodgates' by carelessly waving the bat on the legside at an important juncture and getting his leg stump uprooted. Less said the better about Rayudu who had a second and successive "duck" after having scored heavily this season and also a century in one of the matches. Dhoni's batting just could not come off as he was unusually shaky. Bravo and Jadeja have lost their batting prowess and it is not clear as to how Harbhajan is selected in the first place. He is struggling to either bat or bowl having become old. The "dark horse" was du Plessis who had the tenacity to open and remain "not out" with a super 67 and snatched the match incredibly from SRH and showed that the SRH bowlers with the exception of Rashid Khan were pretty ordinary. Dhoni cannot 'rest' and has to give a 'strong doctrine' to his batsmen to practice hard and not give themselves a feeling that scoring runs is somebody else's business and relax in the dug-out. Dhoni also has to review the present utility value of his players like Bravo, Jadeja and a few more. Harbhajan is a liability and should be dropped for the next match. They should select young players of promise and drop the aging players. CSK looks as a bunch of "Senior Citizens".
T.M. Uday Shankar, Hyderabad.