Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], April 15 (ANI): Following his side’s win over Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni said that playing on more batter-friendly wickets will give their batters much more confidence in their shots, adding that they do not want to play timid cricket.
Dhoni-led CSK finally came good, securing a hard-fought five-wicket win after five successive losses, against LSG at Ekana Stadium on Monday. The last few outings were not good for CSK with the bat. After a struggle-filled chase of 156 at home against arch-rivals Mumbai Indians (MI) at home, CSK would score 146/8 (while chasing 197 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru), 158/5 (while chasing 184 against Delhi Capitals) and delivered a shambolic score of 103/9 (in the first innings against Kolkata Knight Riders) at home. While the team performed much better away from home, falling runs short of 183 set by Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Guwahati and 18 runs short of 220 runs set by Punjab Kings at Mullanpur, CSK’s timidness at home was criticised.
Speaking after the match, skipper Dhoni said during the post-match presentation, “It is good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately, the [earlier] matches did not go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It is good to have a win on our side. Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve. We all knew that when it does not come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game. If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we were struggling with the ball. And then we weren’t able to get the start we wanted as a batting unit.”
“Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent. One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side. When we have played away from home, the batting unit has done slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better so that it will give the batters confidence to play their shots. You do not want to play timid cricket,” he added.
Coming to the match, CSK opted to field first after winning the toss. Except for a 50-run stand between Mitchell Marsh (30 in 25 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and skipper Rishabh Pant, there was nothing much standing out for LSG in the first half.
Pant came good with a half-century, scoring 63 in 49 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes. Pant had a 53-run stand with Abdul Samad (20 in 11 balls, with two sixes) towards the end, which took LSG to 166/7 in their 20 overs.
Ravindra Jadeja (2/24) and Matheesha Pathirana (2/45) were top bowlers for CSK.
In the run-chase, CSK had a fine 52-run opening stand between debutant Shaikh Rasheed (27 in 19 balls, with six fours) and Rachin Ravindra (37 in 22 balls, with five fours). After being reduced to 111/5 in 15 overs, Shivam Dube (43* in 37 balls, with three fours and two sixes) and MS Dhoni (26* in 11 balls, with four boundaries and a six) took CSK to a win with five wickets and three balls left.
Though CSK have their second win in seven matches, they are still at the bottom of the table, while LSG has tumbled down to fourth with third loss in seven matches.
Dhoni was given ‘Player of the Match’ for his knock. (ANI)
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from a syndicated feed of ANI; only the image & headline may have been reworked by News Services Division of World News Network Inc Ltd and Palghar News and Pune News and World News
HINDI, MARATHI, GUJARATI, TAMIL, TELUGU, BENGALI, KANNADA, ORIYA, PUNJABI, URDU, MALAYALAM
For more details and packages
