In IPL 2023, Chennai Super Kings’ bowling unit has been their downfall. Their bowlers haven’t been able to completely suffocate the opposing batsmen despite posting massive scores when batting first. After putting 227 runs on the board against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, CSK had to fight till the very last over to win the match by 8 runs.
Despite having a depleted seam attack due to injuries to key bowlers like Deepak Chahar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sisanda Magala, Ben Stokes, and Simarjeet Singh, their major worry has been their lack of discipline and precision behind the bowling ball.
In this season’s IPL, CSK bowlers have been responsible for a disproportionate number of wides and no-balls. They bowled six wides even against RCB on Monday. Even normally level-headed MS Dhoni, captain of the CSK, had to offer a warning to his bowlers about their extras problem.
In that time, CSK had bowled 13 wides. Even if we’ve seen a decrease, the count is still too large. The day is not far off when Dhoni, the CSK captain, will face a ban owing to repeated slow over-rate offences, according to former India opener Virender Sehwag.
What did Virender Sehwag say about MS Dhoni?
“Dhoni was not looking happy because he has mentioned it before that he wants the bowlers to reduce the number of no-balls and wides. CSK had bowled two-three years of extra and against RCB, they bowled another extra over. It shouldn’t go to a stage where Dhoni gets banned and CSK has to take the field without their captain.
With the kind of knee injury he has, it appears he might play only a handful of matches more anyway. He is constantly pushing himself but if his bowlers are bowling so many wides and no-balls, then Dhoni will have to take rest,” Sehwag said on Cricbuzz.
Even though Tushar Deshpande has been penalized the most for CSK in the IPL season, Sehwag was more displeased with spinner Maheesh Theekshana for bowling three wides against RCB.
Sehwag called CSK’s bowling attack “weak,” saying that the four-time winners would have a tough time moving farther in the tournament unless they fix it.
