India, March 29 -- Cricket fans have sort of made peace with MS Dhoni batting a limited number of balls in the IPL. It has been the case for the last few seasons. More than the batting number, Dhoni focuses on the balls remaining to decide when he should walk out to bat. Despite all this, No.9 seems too bitter a pill to digest. In Chennai Super Kings' 197-run chase against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Dhoni batted at No.9. The ones batting ahead of him were Sam Curran, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin.

In his prime, Dhoni was a cut above all of them. At 43, he has lost some of his sheen, but he still cannot bat lower than Ashwin in a T20 match if he is fit to be part of CSK's ...