‘MS Dhoni will be missed when he goes’: Eoin Morgan

Chennai Super Kings maintained their unbeaten record against Sunrisers Hyderabad at home with a convincing 7-wicket win on Friday. MS Dhoni-led CSK were comfortable in the victory at the MA Chidambaram Stadium that was largely set up by the bowlers.

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SRH, batting first, scored 134 runs with Abhishek Sharma top-scoring with 34 off 26 deliveries. Ravindra Jadeja, who took three wickets, including Abhishek’s, was pivotal in keeping Hyderabad’s flow of runs in check.

The CSK chase got off to a flying start under Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad. Conway remained unbeaten on 77 runs from 57 balls by the end as CSK won by 7 wickets with 8 balls to go. The margin could have been higher had Chennai not lost two in-form players in Gaikwad and Ajinkya Rahane.

Watch: MS Dhoni gives ‘masterclass’ to SRH youngsters after CSK’s win

The win took CSK to third in the points table – only behind Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants on net run rate.

Former England captain Eoin Morgan praised MS Dhoni for his calm leadership despite being pushed into tricky situations this season.

“You can see how animated he is during the game, just after the game, he’s propelling all the information that he’s taken over the years. It’s great to see,” Morgan said on JioCinema.

Read | Familiar problems return to haunt SRH in defeat against all-round CSK

“It’s great to see these guys, they are very grateful for him as a leader, but you’ll only realise how much he’s missed when he goes. That’s going to be the effect. His impact of leading key players in the side who are key performers for the CSK at the moment will miss him when he finishes.”

At the heart of CSK’s exemplary record in IPL are their fans and a defiant record at Chepauk to go with it. Chennai have won 20 of their last 24 IPL games at home. In all, that record stands at 41 wins out of 57 matches played.

“The whole lot of the success is based around winning at the home ground, they have it nailed to a tee. You go through the string of names, the spinners, all-rounders, like you said, plug-n-play. At the back of all this are the characters, the personalities, managed brilliantly by MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming,” said Morgan.

Read | After tumultuous 2022, Jadeja wants to do ‘something special’ for CSK

Conway’s 77-run knock took him to fourth in the Orange Cap race, taking his tally to 258 runs. He is behind Faf du Plessis (343 runs), David Warner (285 runs) and Virat Kohli (279 runs).

Robin Uthappa was impressed with Conway’s effort and how he contributes to the team. “He’s an absolute team man, great guy, he’ll do anything for his team. He just picked the right guys, and he’s gone there and delivered. He generally doesn’t play as quickly as he does, even in international cricket, I don’t think his strike rate is as high as it is in the IPL, which shows how good he is at this point”

“He’s put themselves at No. 4 in the Orange Cap race. He will get better and better. You know he’ll keep scoring runs.”

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