MS Dhoni continues to evolve, Michael Hussey says

CHENNAI: When the 42-year-old talisman wicket-keeper batter MS Dhoni played an unconventional shot by opening the bat and scooping it behind wicketkeeper KL Rahul for a six against Lucknow Super Giants on Friday, he gave a glimpse of how well he has been adapting to modern-day cricket.

Dhoni has been CSK’s go-to man in the end overs and the veteran has been duly playing his role to perfection. His fiery cameos have been lethal in providing the much-needed final flourish. In Lucknow, he smashed 28 off just 9 deliveries and earlier against Mumbai his four-ball 20 was the talk of the town. He has an astonishing strike rate of 255.88.

His former colleague and current CSK batting coach Michael Hussey said MS Dhoni has practised and prepared well coming into the tournament.

“He is at a wonderful place in his career. He is comfortable, he is happy, he is enjoying his cricket. Bowlers are coming up with different plans against him because he has probably been the greatest finisher of all time. So, then he comes up with different ideas. And that’s one of the wonderful things about MS, who continues to evolve and continue even at this stage of his career to make him so better and make it harder for bowlers to bowl at him,” said Hussey.

On the other hand, CSK’s opening batter Rachin Ravindra, who got off to a good start to the tournament, has been struggling and straddling the fence off late. Hussey is not too worried about Rachin’s form and is positive that the New Zealand southpaw will soon come good with a big score.

“Batting can be very fickle, especially at the top of the order. If you get onto a bit of a roll, you can keep it rolling. But unfortunately, he’s missed out a couple of times, but he’s still in a good place mentally. His game looks in good working order, and I guess my message to him has been he’s just one inning closer to that big score that’s coming. He’s still in a positive frame of mind, he’s batting well in the nets, so we’re hopeful,” said Hussey.