After spending two seasons on the bench, opening batsman Shaik Rasheed made his debut for Chennai Tremendous Kings of their match in opposition to Lucknow Tremendous Giants on Monday. In what was the franchise’s third totally different opening mixture, Rasheed placed on 52 runs for the primary wicket with Rachin Ravindra, scoring an eye catching 27 off 19 deliveries.
The choice to go along with Rasheed on the high was in itself an uncommon one with the franchise preferring skilled gamers. It has seen them obtain criticism from a number of quarters over time, particularly over their reluctance to provide alternatives to the younger batsmen. Earlier than Rasheed, their common captain Ruturaj Gaikwad too endured an analogous run the place he spent two seasons on the bench. Previously as nicely, the likes of R Sai Kishore, Baba Aparajith have all been a part of the franchise with out getting a recreation.
However with CSK combating only one win from 6 matches, Dhoni mentioned that they had a cause to convey Rasheed. “He batted rather well. He has been with us for fairly a number of years. Even final yr, we’ve seen enchancment, however this yr, he has been batting rather well within the nets, each in opposition to the quick bowlers and spinners. I felt we wanted to make a number of modifications, as a result of we have been doing the identical issues and getting the identical outcomes,” Dhoni mentioned.
Throughout his transient keep, Rasheed’s compact approach and his textbook recreation stood out as he largely caught to his power which is timing the ball. And Dhoni mentioned it was vital for Rasheed to bat to his strengths fairly than attempting one thing totally different. “It’s simply the beginning. He has the potential to dominate, however with genuine pictures. What’s vital is for him to maintain enjoying the pictures he has in his armoury and never attempt to hit like a few of the different openers which might be floating round,” Dhoni mentioned.