Some CSK batsmen think it's a government job: Virender Sehwag
New Delhi: Former India opener Virender Sehwag has taken a dig at Chennai Super Kings' faltering IPL campaign, saying that some of their batsmen think of the franchise as a "government job" in which remuneration is assured irrespective of performance.
Chasing 168, veteran opener Shane Watson struck his second successive fifty to give CSK a perfect start on Wednesday, but the team choked at the back end of the innings and was restricted to 157 for five to suffer its fourth defeat in five matches.
"It should have been chased down. But the dot balls played by Kedar Jadhav and Ravindra Jadeja didn't help," Sehwag told 'Cricbuzz'.
"And, in my view, some of the Chennai Super Kings batsmen think of CSK as a government job, whether you perform or not, they know they'll get their salary anyway," he added.
CSK added just 14 runs from 11-14 overs, a period when they lost both Watson and an in-form Ambati Rayudu. Sent ahead of West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, Kedar Jadhav laboured to seven off 12 balls as KKR won the game by 10 runs.
This is not the first instance of batsmen letting the team down. Last week, the MS Dhoni-led side had lost a closely fought match to Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven runs after a top-order collapse.
The three-time champions have four losses from six games and are placed sixth in the eight-team standings. They will take on Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore on Saturday.
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Cong performed better in Kerala, anti-incumbency trends influenced WB, TN: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said the Congress had largely met or exceeded expectations in several States, even as results in some regions reflected shifting voter sentiments.
Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said the party accepted the mandate in Assam while performing better than anticipated in Kerala.
He also pointed to possible anti-incumbency trends influencing outcomes in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
“In Assam, we got the expected result, and we accept the people’s mandate. In Kerala, we have won more seats than expected. We anticipated around 76 to 80, but we have gone up to around 95,” Siddaramaiah said.
In West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, there may have been an anti-incumbency trend, and that could have influenced the results, he added.
Siddaramaiah also extended his congratulations to a new political entrant in Tamil Nadu, noting the emergence of a different electoral dynamic in the State.
“I congratulate the new entrant who has achieved success there,” he added.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said electoral outcomes in some States had diverged from the party’s internal assessments, reflecting evolving voter expectations.
“We expected a certain trend, but the results have been different. Political reading was wrong in some places,” he said.
“People were looking for change in some States, and that has been reflected in the results,” Shivakumar, who is also the Congress Karnataka unit president, said.
Referring to Kerala, he said the Congress-led alliance had benefited from public sentiment.
“There was already an expectation based on local body elections, and people had shown confidence in us. That has translated into a strong result,” the Deputy Chief Minister said.
On Tamil Nadu, he acknowledged that the scale of political shift had come as a surprise.
“We expected to secure around 30 to 40 per cent of the vote share, but such a major shift was not anticipated. It shows that voter expectations were different,” he said.
Shivakumar added that electoral outcomes underscored the need for better political assessment in future.
“We have to understand these changes carefully. Political reading cannot go wrong like this,” he said.
