Dhoni sort of gave me the guideline to play straight batted strokes, reveals Conway

Devon Conway scored his third consecutive half-century in the Indian Premier League and has been a rock for Chennai Super Kings at the top. With Ruturaj Gaikwad returning to form, CSK have an enviable opening pair, dismantling the oppositions for fun. One of the impressive aspects of Conway's performance last night was the authority with which he took on the spinners, especially Kuldeep Yadav, by using a straight bat and punishing the full balls comfortably. Later, he credited MS Dhoni for guiding him to play that way.

"I have got to give credit to MS actually, Conway said after the match. In the last game, I swept quite a lot, and I, unfortunately, got out playing the sweep. But he (Dhoni) told me 'I think the guys are going to try to bowl fuller to you tonight. So maybe come out and try to hit them straight. He sort of gave me the guideline to try to execute that," the New Zealander said.

Against DC, he not only swept and reverse-swept but also charged at the DC bowlers to hit them down the ground. In all, he stepped down to hit four balls from spinners Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav and all went for sixes. Another CSK stalwart who has been helping Conway is assistant coach and former Australia batter Mike Hussey with whom the Kiwi chats before matches.

"I think I've heard that a few times now, which is quite good, Conway said at the post-match conference on people comparing him with Hussey. To get compared to one of the greats, Mike Hussey... it's pretty special to be put in that bracket. He's got so much knowledge, so much experience. Not only in the IPL, but throughout the world. It's just very important for me as a player to continue talking to him and learning from him and just getting some guidelines when I need it," Conway added.

The 30-year-old left-handed batter, who has played seven Tests, three ODIs, and 20 T20Is since making his debut in 2021, said he wants to keep things simple. "For me, the key is to keep very simple, and authentic myself as a player" My blueprint is simple. In the first six (overs), try to play strong cricket shots, and analyze the situation, the surface, and the conditions. I just kept up the communication with Rutu (Ruturaj Gaikwad) at the other end. He is a class player, he's really calm at the crease, so he and I have good chats and we complement each other quite nicely in the middle," he concluded.