Former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop reckons CSK captain MS Dhoni won back the franchise’s fans after leading them to a five wicket win against Lucknow Super Giants at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, Lucknow in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Monday.

CSK had won their season’s opener against MI but lost five matches on the bounce. The team’s batters were struggling to score consistently and many fans questioned Dhoni for batting down the order and not playing with intent in the run-chase against Delhi Capitals.

However, Dhoni once again proved why he is such a big match-winner as he smashed a fine cameo of 11-ball 26 in the run-chase of 167 against LSG.

Ian Bishop said on ESPN Cricinfo, “Mike Hussey was asking the Chennai fans to show faith. I think he (Dhoni) won back about 90 per cent of them today. Whoever had strayed, the sheep had strayed from the pen, Dhoni’s brought them back. He (Dhoni) won them a game.”

“Before this, people were questioning understandably, ‘Why?’ Well, he’s calm, he’s captain, he made a good decision at the toss. That was a way that they could win the game. If they bowl well and restricted LSG and then in typical Chennai fashion of chasing that-sized total, it was good. And for him to be out there to do what he did, it’s going to be a magical thing.”

Dhoni, on the other hand, added this win would give them a lot of confidence as they have not ticked the right boxes in the tournament.

He said in the post-match presentation, “Good to win a game, unfortunately the games haven’t gone our way, it gives a lot of confidence to the team. It was a tough game, glad to be on the winning side and hopefully it gives us momentum.”

CSK will next take on arch-rivals MI at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.