Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni admitted that it wasn’t the right call to bat first after winning the toss against Gujarat Titans at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday (May 15).

Opting to bat first, CSK posted a below-par 133/5 on the board as their batters failed to accelerate in the death overs against a high-quality GT attack. In fact, Chennai couldn’t hit a single boundary in the last five overs of their innings.

Speaking after the game, Dhoni said it was tough to hit the fast bowlers in the first innings as the ball was not coming on the bat.

“To start off, batting first wasn’t a really good idea. The fast bowlers their ball wasn’t coming on. That’s why the batsmen found it tough to hit. The second half it got slightly better. Spinners I felt both halves it was pretty even. Bit more runs in the middle overs would have been good," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation after CSK’s 7-wicket defeat.

Talking about the decision to send Narayan Jagadeesan over Shivam Dube in the batting order, Dhoni said they wanted the former to spend more time in the middle.

“We could have pushed Shivam up the order but that defeats the purpose of giving Jaggi the extra game. We wanted Jaggi to spend some time in the middle," he stated.

The CSK captain also praised young Sri Lanka pacer Matheesha Pathirana, who returned with the figures of 2 for 24 in his 3.1 overs on IPL debut.

“I think Pathirana is an excellent death bowler. A bit similar to Malinga. With his action, the margin of error for him is quite big. With a slingy action, he doesn’t get a lot of bounce. He has got that slower one as well," Dhoni said.

“We are trying to feature a good XI and will look to do that in the coming games also," he concluded.

Already out of the playoffs race, Chennai Super Kings will face Rajasthan Royals in their last league match on May 20.