Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has been criticised not just by veteran cricketers but also by his fans following his "lack of spark" comment on CSK youngsters after the franchise incurred their seventh defeat in the ongoing IPL 2020 season, losing by seven wickets against Rajasthan Royals at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

Chennai, on Monday evening, had struggled with the bat on the slowish wicket, scoring only 126 runs for five wickets after opting to bat first. Rajasthan comfortably chased down the total with 15 balls to spare and even wickets in hand. The defeat left them languishing at the bottom of the points table, with playoffs hope almost over.After the game, Dhoni said that the youngsters in the camp failed to live up to the expectations which was the reason they stuck with the experienced lot in the playing XI.

�We tried a few things � that is one thing you don�t want to do, you don�t want to do too many chopping and changes because what really happens is after three-four, or five, games you are not really sure about anything,� Dhoni said in his post-match interview. �So you want to give guys a fair go. Then if you are not performing, you switch and go back to somebody else and then you give him the same kind of run. Insecurity is something that you don�t really want to prevail in the dressing room.

�This season, we were not really there. And, also, there were a few chances to the youngsters and maybe we didn�t see the kind of spark that they could have given us to say, okay, push [out] the experienced guy and maybe make some space for them (youngsters).�

Dhoni's remarks invited criticism from fans who questioned the selection of Kedar Jadhav over Jagadeeshan and Ruturaj Gaikwad.