XtraTime Web Desk: MS Dhoni kept it late, once again! After Delhi gave a target of 176 runs, Chennai started their innings in a very slow pace and in the end failed miserably. Could Dhoni do it if we wouldn’t have come to bat this late? We can’t rule that out.
Both the openers had a strike rate below 90 but everyone kept their hope because there was MS Dhoni in the team. However, like last few games, Dhoni came late and there was nothing for him to do. The match was already out of CSK’s hands. CSK played like an ODI match and at a point, they posted a picture of a sleeping man in their Twitter handle describing that CSK is just playing boring cricket. Chennai were never in a place to win the match and in the end, they lost by 44 runs.
Delhi scored 175 runs in the first innings because of strong performances from Prithvi Shaw and Rishabh Pant. Shaw scored 64 runs from 43 balls while Pant scored 37 from 25. Du Plessis tried for Chennai scoring 43 from 35 but no one supported him in the middle.
With this loss, Chennai now have lost 2 of their 3 matches in this year’s IPL. In the post match conference, Dhoni said, “I don’t think it was a good game for us. We are lacking a bit of steam in the batting and that hurts. The run rate keeps on mounting after such slow starts and adds pressure, we need to figure that out. We need to come back with a clearer picture, looking at the combination. Maybe, the team balance will get better once Rayudu comes back.”
People in the social media are suggesting that CSK needs to change their starting XI. Dhoni explains his decision, “There are quite a few things we can think about. We are one batter extra to start off, so the players need to step up. We need to get better with our lengths, lines and pace.”
Spinners used to be Chennai’s strength in the home games. This year because of different conditions, spinners are not that effective. Dhoni said, “I think the spinners have not come to the party yet. We are bowling good deliveries, but we are giving away the boundary deliveries bit too often.”
To end up the conversation, Dhoni was in a very light mood to answer while talking about so many dropped catches in this year’s IPL. He said, “I’ll ask the players as there have been quite a few dropped catches. The players are not used to play under such lights, maybe the trajectory comes in the way. Now that you have said it, this can be an excuse for those dropped catches (laughs)”.
Prithvi Shaw was elected as the Man of the Match after amazing performance in the first innings. In the post match conference he spoke about his innings as well as how different is his game from last year. He said, “In the start you have to see how the wicket is, playing along the ground is more important. I was striking the ball well last year as well, but I was making silly mistakes. This time I decided to play more ground shots. I would like to see the highlights of my knock and understand how it went and what I could do. The wicket was nice to bat on.”
Shreyas Iyer is the most capped captain of the Delhi franchise. The winning captain was happy with the performance of his team but accepted that, it is tough for the players to catch the ball because of the lights. He said, “I would give them the benefit of doubt, is tough to catch in these conditions. You misjudge the ball, really don’t know how to pace yourself.”
The batting looks really solid of the Delhi based team. Speaking about their planning, the captain said, “In the team meeting we decided that we are going to assess the batting conditions early and then play accordingly. The way the openers started gave us a lot of confidence and the finish was good too. I am lucky to have KG and Nortje in the team. It’s important to stick together as a team and we need to enjoy each other’s success.”