IPL 2016: Sunil Gavaskar slams MS Dhoni for not handling Irfan Pathan properly

In a no-holds barred criticism, Sunil Gavaskar has slammed MS Dhoni for failing to utilize the all-round ability of Irfan Pathan and not doing enough to prevent Rising Pune Supergiants‘ woeful performance.

Writing in his column for Times of India, the iconic batsman targeted Dhoni for not taking responsibility to arrest Pune’s batting slide. The 66-year old also opined that RPSG does not possess the stability which is usually associated with the seasoned captain.

Gavaskar wrote, “It is hard to say from a distance, but his treatment of the one world-class bowler in his team has raised eyebrows galore and made many wonder if there was some issue there.”

Not stopping with that, the veteran recollected Irfan’s stint with the now suspended Chennai Super Kings. He claimed, “Even when Irfan Pathan was part of the Chennai Super Kings last season, he hardly got a look in and the same is happening here in the RPS team.”

The right-hander added, “With their batting weakened by the absence through injury of Faf du Plessis, Steve Smith and Mitchell Marsh, the left-handed Pathan could have been the all-rounder that could have given the skipper some options.”

His assessment holds weight given the fact that Irfan has just got two matches in which the left-arm seamer bowled only one over. RPSG are languishing at the bottom of the table with nine losses from 12 games, so far. It is the first time in all IPL seasons that a side led by Dhoni have not reached the final four.

‘Sunny’ blamed the 34-year old for not leading from the front like the other captains in this IPL. Virat Kohli, David Warner, Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir and Murali Vijay are among the top ten run-scorers in this tournament.

However, the wicket-keeper batsman has only managed 220 runs at a strike-rate of 123.59 without a single half-century from the first 12 matches. Gavaskar questioned Dhoni’s reluctance to promote himself up the order.

The Mumbaikar reasoned, "The skipper (Dhoni) has been out of sorts with the bat and so he has not been able to transform the game with his big hitting as he has done umpteen times in the past. His reluctance to come up the order in crucial times has cost the team matches that they should have won.”

Admitting that RPSG has been hampered by several high-profile injuries, Gavaskar hoped that the newly formed franchise somehow pick themselves up and play spoilsport to teams which are eyeing the playoffs.