Many cricket experts and fans want MS Dhoni to bat higher up the order for the Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2024 and AB de Villiers advocated for the same.
Ahead of CSK's home game against LSG, ABD on his YouTube channel said, "I understand that he is a guy who is not playing a lot of cricket these days. He comes in, prepares for the IPL and that's all he plays."
"Maybe him batting down the order has come from himself, thinking like he's not in such great form. Maybe the younger guys who play 12 months of the year deserve a chance to bat up the order but with stats like these, it's very difficult for me to agree with that."
"At what point do we think that he is in good enough form to maybe just bat at number 5 or 6. I'm not saying go and bat at 3 but just give yourself a few more deliveries. You are so destructive as a batter and you win games for CSK, you have done that for many many years."
"I think everyone would love to see him bat a little bit higher. I would say somewhere after over 12 to 14, somewhere there if a wicket falls. No matter if they are 1 down or 5 down, he should go in. I think they should do a strategy like that. I think it will be very effective for CSK. He is still the most destructive player in that team after all these years and the best finisher by a country mile in the IPL at the moment."
MS Dhoni has so far smashed 87 runs in IPL 2024 at a whopping strike rate of 255.88. Interestingly, his average cannot be calculated as Mahi is yet to be dismissed in this season of the cash-rich league.