DC are going to expose a lot of weaknesses in CSK’s batting lineup: Former spinner Brad Hogg
The batting line-up of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) can be left unprotected by the formidable bowlers of the Delhi Capitals (DC), former Australian spinner Brad Hogg has said.
Hogg said that CSK may have qualified second in the league table but their batting has been wayward save for the form their openers and Ravindra Jadeja have displayed.
Fast bowler Avesh Khan has picked 26 wickets this season while South African pacers Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje have taken 13 and nine wickets respectively.
“Delhi Capitals are going to expose a lot of weaknesses in the Chennai line-up. If you look at the DC bowling line-up, they have got pace – Anrich Nortje, Avesh Khan opening the bowling, (Kagiso) Rabada coming in the middle overs as well with the extra pace. They have two quality spinners in Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin,” Hogg said on his YouTube channel.
CSK have been buoyed by openers Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad’s form. Du Plessis is the second highest run scorer this season with 546 runs while Gaikwad has 533 runs to his name. However, it has only been Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo, on the rare occasions that he got to bat, who have found any consistency with the bat for CSK apart from the openers.
“Nortje and Avesh Khan against Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad, they are going to expose a few weaknesses with the short ball to both of those players. If they get early wickets, then they expose that middle-order, which is starting to fall out of form a little bit,” Hogg added.
“Moeen Ali has lost his way a little bit. Uthappa hasn’t adopted that well to the middle-order role. If Raina comes back as well, he doesn’t like pace. I am not confident with Rayudu’s form at the moment and Dhoni as well seems to be out of touch. They can’t rely on Jadeja and Bravo to make up for that weakness in the middle-order.”
