Captain MS Dhoni labelled England’s Sam Curran as the complete cricketer for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2020.
The all-rounder was pushed up the order to open the batting in place of Australian Shane Watson against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Curran smashed 31 off 20 balls to get CSK off to a positive start in a vital clash. His innings included three fours and two sixes as Super Kings made 167-6.
Chennai went on to record a 20-run success to keep their tournament hopes alive and kicking.
Former India skipper Dhoni singled out the Surrey star for extra praise at the end of the match.
He said: “‘Sam Curran is a complete cricketer for us and you need that seaming all-rounder.
“He strikes the ball nicely, he can bat up the order and he plays spinners well. He can give us those 15-45 runs if you need momentum.
“I feel as the tournament progresses, he’ll get even more comfortable with death bowling. That’s one of the reasons we kept him away at the death.”
Dhoni Pleased with Progress
Chennai were beaten finalists in last year’s edition but have already suffered five losses this time around.
Despite that, Dhoni is happy with how things are starting to progress for his side.
He added: “There’s plenty we can improve on, but we are good right now. I think we need to think more about the process.
“If you keep winning the games, the points table will take care of itself. There’s no point looking at the table right now, but we’ll still look at what we can improve.”
Chennai return to IPL action on Saturday when they face Delhi in Sharjah.
SRH Never Got Going, Says Warner
Meanwhile, Sunrisers skipper David Warner admitted his side never got going as they failed to chase down Chennai’s total.
He said: “The chase didn’t take flight. The wicket was a tad on the slow side.
“Without the extra batter, you almost err on the side of caution. We wanted to take it deep. But this is what happens in cricket, you can’t always win.
“I think with our team and the depth that we have, we’re always going to be one short either way.
“It would have been nice to have an extra batter today but you’ve got to weigh out the pros and cons.”
