IPL 2021: Dhoni knows how to get his troops in the right mindset – Michael Vaughan

Former England captain Michael Vaughan recently lauded Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni for instilling a winning mentality in his team. He stated that Dhoni knows how to win important matches.

In Match 35 of the Indian Premier League 2021, CSK beat RCB by six wickets at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium. Despite RCB getting off to a blistering start, CSK managed to pull the game back in their favor and restricted RCB to just 156 runs.

The CSK batters then chased down the total convincingly, picking up two crucial two points.

MS Dhoni inspired the win with some shrewd bowling changes and his accurate assessment of the Sharjah pitch. While discussing the match result, Michael Vaughan credited the Chennai franchise and MS Dhoni for their specific but uncomplicated strategies. Vaughan said:

“I think we gotta be honest. We have a franchise in Chennai which is smart, and clever and they know how to play T20 cricket. They’ve got experience and they’ve got a captain who knows how to win. He (Dhoni) knows how to get his troops in the kind of mindset with a strategic frame to play the game that’s in front of them.”

Speaking about the involvement of data and statistics in the modern game, Vaughan pointed out how CSK thinks differently than other franchises,further saying,”The problem with other franchises is that they use a huge amount of data. However, Chennai has a few team meetings and they just play cricket through their eyes and their senses and it’s a very smart way to play the game.”

RCB are not smart : Michael Vaughan

Pointing out flaws in RCB’s team management,the former English captain said,”The RCB team probably has a lot of meetings, there will be a lot of data and there’s a lot of information in the players’ minds. They are not smart, they are not calm for the whole game. They played excellent cricket till the 10-over mark. But after that, they were dominated by a better team.”

Vaughan compared RCB to CSK, stating that one team has potential but fails to deliver while the other is a well-oiled winning machine. He elaborated,

“I’ll be honest that, on paper, RCB are very strong, particularly in the batting department. But when you look at 1 to 11, you’ve got a very capable team in RCB who should be doing better, but we’ve got this experience of a machine [CSK], who just knows how to win. One smart team and one promising side that doesn’t play to its potential.”