‘What a way to intimidate your bowlers’ – Fans react as MS Dhoni says ‘They’ll play under new captain if…’ after Lucknow encounter

On Monday, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Moeen Ali led Chennai to their first victory in the Indian T20 League 2023. Chennai beat Lucknow in a high-scoring match on match 6 of the ITL 2023 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, returning to their Chepauk den for the first time in nearly four years.

Dhoni, on the other hand, issued a warning to Chennai bowlers following the four-time champion’s first win of the season, as the legendary cricketer was dissatisfied with the team’s bowling performance. After Chennai’s impressive win over Lucknow, Dhoni admitted that his bowlers were not disciplined enough in the 12-run victory at Chepauk.

In their first home game of the season, the bowling attack bowled three no-balls and as many as 13 wides. “They’ll have to bowl no no-balls and less wides. We are bowling too many extra deliveries and need to cut them out otherwise they’ll be playing under a new captain,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.

Here is MS Dhoni’s video

The former India captain and Chennai Super Kings legend also commented on the Chepauk pitch, which produced an absolute run-fest in the league’s 16th season.

“It was a terrific game, high-scoring game. All of us were thinking how the wicket will be. We had that doubt. It was a high-scoring game. Overall I think it was a perfect first game that happened and it was a full house for the first game in 5 or 6 years since we’ve been here. I thought it will be much slower. It was a wicket where you could score runs but overall it got a bit slower. We’ll have to see how it plays over the next six games at home but hopefully, we can score here,” Dhoni said.

In the meantime, quick-fire knocks from Devon Conway (47), Gaikwad (57), and Ambati Rayudu (27) helped Chennai post the season’s highest total at Chepauk. Moeen Ali took four wickets to help Chennai restrict Lucknow to 205 for 7 in 20 overs, bowling well in the high-scoring game.

Here is how Twitter reacted