IPL 2019: CSK middle order not up to the mark, reckons Brad Hodge

Talk about T20 legends and the discussion would be incomplete without the name Brad Hodge. Having represented multiple franchises in the IPL and various other tournaments, the Aussie veteran was once the leading run-scorer in the format, before Chris Gayle took over and amassed mind-boggling numbers.

After hanging his boots, Hodge has been spending time in the studios, analyzing the game with the help of his vast experience. After the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered their first loss of the season at Wankhede yesterday, Hodge came out strong against the Super Kings and lambasted their middle order’s effort.

“They (CSK) were sluggish from ball one. It looked like they were under pressure when they walked out there. They were thinking they would chase 150, but ended up conceding 170, so that changes the mindset. Then you lose a couple of wickets early, then they tried to rebuild from there. Suresh Raina too was scratchy till he got hold out in the deep.

They never really got going. Kedar Jadhav was good enough to put the bad ball away. But the middle order left far too much for the lower order to achieve. MS likes coming in the 13th-14th over, hit a few around and then go bananas. That’s not happening right now,” Hodge said after the game to ESPN Cricinfo.

Dhoni will not bat any different: Agarkar

Another elite presence on the panel was former Indian cricketer Ajit Agarkar, who explained how Dhoni likes to take an innings deep and then explode. He claimed that Dhoni will not change his approach, however, if they fail a couple more times with a similar approach, the think tank might have to push their boundaries a bit.

“I don’t think MS (Dhoni) is going to bat any different. He likes to take it deep, take his time and then explode. If they fail a couple of times in the coming games, they might think of changing their approach. Even Kedar Jadhav, he was going much quicker than he ended up,”

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