Chennai Super Kings survived some tense moments throughout their 18-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders of their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match on Wednesday (April 21) however skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni stated his job grew to become ‘quite easy’ in direction of the tip of the sport.
CSK posted an enormous complete of 220 for 3 after being requested to bat after which lowered KKR to 31 for 5. Andrew Russell (54) and Pat Cummins (66 not out) went on a six-hitting spree to maintain KKR within the hunt earlier than being bowled out for 202 in 19.1 overs.
“Quite easy in a game like this. From the 16th over onwards the contest was between the fast bowler and the batsman. You can’t do too much. Can’t put a different field. It’s about you vs me. The side that has won is a side that has executed slightly better,” Dhoni stated on the post-match presentation.
“You don’t want to take too many early wickets. Big hitters coming in, 200 runs, there’s only one way they’ll play. Not much you can do. The only option was Jadeja. It was turning, was a bit dry.”
Despite placing up 220 on board, Dhoni felt it was a chaseable complete. “If they’d’ve had extra wickets, may’ve been totally different. Have seen sufficient in cricket, all the time wish to be humble. There’s no good purpose in case you have scored, the opposition can’t rating.
“My lines to the players was that we have got good runs on the board but let’s be humble.”
Sent into bat, Faf du Plessis (95 not out) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (64) knocked the daylight out of KKR bowlers, including 115 for the opening wicket to put the inspiration. “The batting has been really good. Rutu is somebody who has shown his class in the last IPL. You always need to assess where he is mentally. Once when he was off guard, I just asked him how are you feeling today,” Dhoni stated.
“When you put a question like that, you wait for the reactions, you see what’s in his eyes. There was enough in his reactions to suggest he wasn’t rattled. That’s what I’ve been doing all my life (applying psychology) but in a good way.”
Losing skipper Eoin Morgan stated he did not assume his crew had an opportunity after they have been lowered to 31 for 5 in 5.2 overs.
“It’s (pulse) quite high at the moment. What a hell of a game of cricket. Certainly from the position we were in after our powerplay, we probably didn’t think we’d get as close as we did,” he stated.
“But Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik really did put a partnership together, once you do that taking advantage of the conditions here, it’s very difficult to stop. A partnership going in that manner and then following that Pat Cummins the way he played really gave us every chance towards the end. Tremendous fight from our middle and lower order which is all you can ask for when you lose wickets upfront like that.”
Defending 220, CSK pacer Deepak Chahar (4/29) produced a sensational spell, claiming 4 wickets, whereas Lungi Ngidi (3/28) captured one to go away KKR tottering at 31 for 5 in 5.2 overs.
“I don’t know (what I am doing right). I am just trying to bowl straight balls and it is swinging. It was a good wicket to bowl on, the ball was swinging and seaming,” Chahar stated.
“I didn’t pick a lot of wickets last year and I realised later that when I’m bowling the first over I have the responsibility and if I get 1-2 wickets in the powerplay, the tone is set.”
Chahar stated his crew bowled some actually dangerous balls to permit the KKR batsmen to be within the run chase. “The dew came in, the ball was coming on nicely, some good batting by Russell and we also bowled some bad balls, so it was a combination of everything,” he stated.
“Even the cutters Sam was bowling were coming onto the bat. I was thinking we should not lose this match, they were batting really well and at one point needed 40 off 20 balls which is very gettable on this ground. It is always good to win matches like this in the group stage as you learn a lot of things.”
