Since the time Suresh Raina has withdrawn himself from IPL 2020, people have been debating who should bat at no. 3 for CSK in the upcoming IPL season? Some people are of the opinion that the captain MS Dhoni should promote himself up the order and bat at no. 3.
There is no doubt about the fact that Dhoni is someone who can bat at any batting position and he has performed excellently at no. 3 for India in the past, but before Dhoni promotes himself to no. 3, he will have to consider the overall balance of CSK’s batting.
Raina was a wonderful player of spin and he had the ability to provide impetus to the CSK innings against the spinners, something which Dhoni can do as well, but there are a few other players in the CSK camp who can also play that role.
If Ruturaj Gaikwad comes into the XI for Raina, he will surely open the batting with Shane Watson. In that scenario, Ambati Rayudu will have to bat in the middle order.
Now, Rayudu is also someone who has got a huge range of shots against spin bowling. While he can go straight down the ground against the spinners, he can cut the ball and can sweep as well. So, he can easily bat at no. 3 and can maintain the tempo in the middle phase of the innings.
The same can be done by Kedar Jadhav who can also explore different areas of the ground against the spinners. And, if there are too many left arm spin and leg-spin options in the opposition bowling line-up, CSK can contemplate using even Ravindra Jadeja at no. 3.
But, neither of Rayudu, Jadhav or Jadeja is actually a power-hitter that CSK will need against the fast bowlers in the latter stages of the innings.
Dhoni, Dwayne Bravo and Shane Watson are the only power-hitters in the CSK squad. Watson opens the batting anyway and if Dhoni moves up the order as well, it will be too much of a task for Bravo to play the finisher’s role alone down the order.
Three or four players in the CSK squad have got the skill-set to do the job that is required at no. 3, but hardly anyone, apart from Dhoni, has got the skill-set to do the job that is required at no. 5 or no. 6 in the death overs and that’s the reason why Dhoni shouldn’t bat at no. 3 for CSK in IPL 2020.
