Chennai Super Kings suffered a narrow three-run defeat at the hands of Rajasthan Royals.
The game went down to the wire with the hosts chasing 176 to win. CSK skipper MS Dhoni couldn’t hit a last-ball six against Sandeep Sharma as the four-time champions managed 172/6 in their allotted 20 overs.
After the game, Dhoni termed the lull period in the middle overs as the reason for his team’s close defeat.
While the CSK captain didn’t mention any name, he clearly pointed fingers at Devon Conway (50 off 38 balls), Shivam Dube (8 off 9 balls) and Moeen Ali (7 off 10 balls), who couldn’t get going against RR spinners R Ashwin (2/25) and Yuzvendra Chahal (2/27) between seventh to 15th over.
“There was not a lot in it for spinners, but in the middle period, there were too many dot balls. If the (ball) is stopping and turning off the surface, then it is fine. But that was not the case here,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
“We (him and Ravindra Jadeja) were the last batting pair, early in the tournament, you can’t go hard, keeping the NRR in mind as there were too many overs to go. We kept it slightly late in the middle overs. We could have taken more singles. And we couldn’t go hard immediately,” he added.
Dhoni returned with 32 not out off 17 balls and his knock was studded with 1 four and 3 sixes.
“I don’t fancy too many things. I just wait for the bowlers to commit a few errors. The bowler was slightly under pressure in the last over. You need to back yourself. My strength is to look to hit straight.”
He also expressed disappointment over the fact that his batters failed to make the most of the dew factor.
“We saw the amount of dew, and after the first few overs, it became relatively easy. We should have done better with the bat.
“Overall, the bowlers did well. [On 200 games as captain] I am not big on milestones. How does it matter if it is 199 or 200. It is a compliment to play 200 games. Thanks to almighty. But as I said nothing special,” Dhoni said.
(With PTI Inputs)