CSK fell short by 7 runs with Dhoni staying unbeaten on 47 off 36 balls.
Chasing 165 to win, CSK fell short by 7 runs with Dhoni staying unbeaten on 47 off 36 balls. He once again faced criticism for going after the bowlers too late.
“I was not able to middle a lot of deliveries. Was trying to hit it too hard. When the wicket is slightly at the slower side, it is better to time it. Looking at outfield it was subconsciously coming to us to hit the ball hard,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The hot and humid conditions of Dubai took a toll on Dhoni in the last few overs as he was seen struggling after taking runs.
Talking about the same, the CSK captain said: “I tried to get as much as time as possible. It is quite dry out here. So, the throat gets dry and you start to cough. When you have legal signs, you can take some time off.”
Dhoni made three changes to his playing XI but could not avoid the defeat. It was CSK’s third loss in four games this season and he acknowledged they need to find solutions.
“Long time back once we lost three in a row. We need to get a lot of things right. It is the professionalism. We need to take our catches not bowl no-balls. Those are the controllables and may be we are getting too relaxed,” he said.
“We have been a bit too relaxed at times. After the 16th over, we had two good overs but overall we could have been slightly better.
“Nobody wants to drop catches but at the same at this level, we need to draw a line and say these catches that need to be taken especially when the team hasn’t been doing that outstandingly well,” he said referring to spilled chances when SRH’s Abhishek Sharma was batting.
“Catches that these can hamper your knock out stage games. It is very important to be at your best. There are plenty of positives in this game but we will try to come back strong.”
(With PTI inputs)