Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni didn’t shy away from taking the blame for the two-run loss against RCB in Bengaluru on Saturday as the visitors fell short despite being ahead for most of the 214-run chase.
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni was honest in his assessment of the Saturday clash, saying that he himself was in the wrong as his side fell agonisingly short of the target by just two runs. Dhoni, who scored 12 runs off eight deliveries, hit just one six in his short innings and admitted that he should have hit a couple of more shots to take his team over the line after CSK failed to chase down 35 runs off the last 18 deliveries.
“Well, I think looking at [that] over, when I went into that with the kind of deliveries and the runs needed, I felt I should have converted maybe a couple of more shots, and that would have eased the pressure,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “So, I would take the blame for it.”
Ayush Mhatre, the 17-year-old Mumbai prodigy, continued to impress in his maiden IPL stint with a heroic 48-ball 94 while Ravindra Jadeja played his part at No 4, being unbeaten on 77. However, the 18th over bowled by Suyash Sharma, which yielded just six runs while Jadeja failed to connect a couple and so did MS Dhoni, eventually didn’t let CSK get the finishing kick to chase that total down after Lungi Ngidi‘s double-wicket over switched the momentum in RCB’s favour.
In the bowling side of things for CSK, Noor Ahmad and Matheesha Pathirana had quietly led the visitors’ comeback with the ball after the terrific opening stand between Jacob Bethell and Virat Kohli. However, Romario Shepherd just took the game away from CSK with a belligerent 53* off just 14 balls, smashing the joint-second fastest fifty in the IPL.
“I thought they got off to a good start. In between, we pulled it back,” Dhoni said. “But Romario Shepherd, in the death overs, was brilliant. Whatever our bowlers were bowling, he was able to get maximum runs.”
Dhoni praised Mhatre and admitted that finally, after a few games, the batting, which has been letting the side down, came good and almost chased down a huge total on a wicket which wasn’t the easiest to bat.
