Chennai Super Kings ended their five-match winless streak against Mumbai Indians on Saturday as they secured a win over the side in the opening game of IPL 2020. MS Dhoni's men defeated MI by five-wickets as Mumbai's poor run in the UAE continues.
The Mumbai Indians are yet to win a match in the United Arab Emirates, having lost all of their five games in the 2014 edition of the tournament.
James Pattinson, who secured the side with an early breakthrough with the wicket of Murali Vijay in yesterday's match, said in the post-match conference that bowling first was an advantage on the wicket.
"There's little bit of wetness around the grass. It skidded on a little bit. It was a good wicket overall," Pattinson said in the post-match press conference.
"I think Rohit said at the toss that we were looking to bowl first. It was communicated to us. I think with temparatures being high, at night time, the ground does a bit wet, so probably an advantage to bowl first."
Talking about Kieron Pollard's batting position, Pattinson said that he expects the West Indian to come at a higher position in the future. Pollard batted at number six against CSK.
"I think between him (Pollard) and the two Pandya brothers, it's just going to float at number 5, 6 and 7 depending on the stiaution of the game. I'm sure he'll bat higher at some stage, depending on the situation in the game," said Pattinson.
The bowler also talked about the absence of crowd in the IPL.
"You just have to make your own noise out there. It's obviously hard when you don't have fans cheering behind you, especially the Mumbai Indians fans who are great. So, yeah it's different, it's different times, we're just grateful to be playing cricket," said Pattinson.
