When CSK needed Dhoni in Qualifier against DC, he stood up: Watson
Oct 15, 2021
New Delhi [India], October 15 : Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson has said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni knows how to get the best out of his players.
CSK will square off against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL 2021 final later on Friday at the Dubai International Stadium.
"MS Dhoni just knows how to continuously bring an environment together and get the best out of the players. That is why CSK has always had these different match-winners, it is not just about one or two players," said Watson on the Super Kings show on Star Sports.
"He just knows how to allow people to get out of their way and yes CSK has not been relying on MS to score the runs that he has done in the past but when the team needed him the most in the Qualifier, the great man just stood up like he has done in the past," he added.
The IPL 2021 has been played in two parts this season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after a long wait, the final is here. The summit clash will see MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings clash with Eoin Morgan's Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR).
MS Dhoni-led CSK has won the IPL title thrice and after putting on a dismal show in the 2020 season in UAE, the side made a remarkable comeback this year and some fearless cricket from the franchise has seen Dhoni's men reach the finals.
Dhoni might have managed to score just 114 runs from 15 matches this season, but he rose like a phoenix when the team needed him most and his best knock came in Qualifier 1 against Delhi Capitals. He scored 18 runs from six balls, rolling back time, giving fans a perfect nostalgia trip as the Chennai franchise roared into the final. His innings even got Virat Kohli to label Dhoni as the "greatest finisher ever".
Squads: Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Faf du Plessis, Moeen Ali, Robin Uthappa, Ambati Rayudu, MS Dhoni (c & wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Dwayne Bravo, Shardul Thakur, Deepak Chahar, Josh Hazlewood, Suresh Raina, Imran Tahir, Jason Behrendorff, Krishnappa Gowtham, Lungi Ngidi, Mitchell Santner, Ravisrinivasan Sai Kishore, Hari Nishanth, N Jagadeesan, KM Asif, Harishankar Reddy, Dominic Drakes, Bhagath Varma, Karn Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Sunil Narine, Shakib Al Hasan, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harbhajan Singh, Tim Southee, Andre Russell, Ben Cutting, Karun Nair, Pawan Negi, Kuldeep Yadav, Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Sheldon Jackson, Sandeep Warrier, Tim Seifert, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Vaibhav Arora.
