Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s woes continued on Saturday as Chennai Super Kings lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore by 37 runs.
Batting first, Royal Challengers Bangalore made 169-4 in 20 overs. Skipper Virat Kohli made 90 in just 52 balls with his knock including four boundaries and four sixes.
Chennai Super Kings looked nervous right from the beginning when they began their run-chase. Their opening batsmen Faf du Plessis and Shane Watson failed to play big innings as both of them got out after scoring 8 and 14 respectively. Ambati Rayudu, who started on a tentative note, began to accelerate the run-rate but failed to script the victory for his side and got out by scoring 44 runs. Ambati Rayudu too contributed with 33.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni came to bat at number five and made desperate attempts to pull off an impossible win, but he too departed by scoring just 10 runs in six balls.
Dhoni said after the match, “I think the last four overs when we were bowling, we just needed to close it nicely. Batting has been a bit of a worry and today also it was evident. We need to do something about it. I think we are better off playing the other way round, playing the bigger shots even if you get out. That is something we can do in the coming games. I think it also depends on how you’ve performed so far in the tournament and our batting has lacked a bit of power from the sixth over onwards. Individuals can get tentative no matter how much confidence you give them. I feel that’s where we’ve not adapted or come up with plans against the bowlers who bowl from the 6th to the 14th over. I always told the players to focus more on the process – when you start thinking about results of the previous game, you put a burden. With the bowling we’ve shown we can restrict the oppposition. We’re either leaking at the start or in the last four. There are too many holes in the ship. I think overall you have to look at the combination, how many spinners, the fast bowlers. There’s always one spot you can play around. We started with five bowlers, now we have six. But our main worry remains the batting department. In the coming games we’ll try to be more expressive. You rather get out in the 16th or 17th over.”
Kohli, who was declared Man Of The Match, said, “It was one of our more complete performances. Wanted to bat first but got into a bit of a trick siituation there. We spoke at the time out that around 150 would be great. To gain some momentum now was very important because we have back-to-back games. When you don’t get too far ahead of the game, it rewards you. If you’re in at the death overs and you have a score and you’re hitting it well, you can capitalise well. That was something for us to learn tonight.”
