Finding momentum with back-to-back wins is turning out to be a difficult task for Chennai Super Kings, who slumped to their fourth loss of the season with a 10-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders in match 21 of IPL 2020 in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
The side played good cricket for the most part of the game after some tidy bowling in death overs saw them restrict KKR at 167. Birthday boy Dwayne Bravo was the star of the bowling with three wickets for 37, 12 of which came in the death overs.
However, in the game at the halfway stage of their batting with nine wickets in hand and a set opener Shane Watson and no.3 Ambati Rayudu on the field, CSK saw the game slip away from them as they were given a taste of their own medicine by KKR in death overs; giving away just 47 runs in last five overs while CSK hard hitters were not allowed to open their arms.
Talking at the post-match presentation after the defeat, MS Dhoni, who scored 12 runs on the day, admitted that batsmen let CSK bowlers down on the day by not chasing down the paltry total.
“In the middle overs, there was a phase where they bowled 2-3 good overs. If we batted better and didn't lose 2-3 wickets in a row,. We should've been careful in the first 5-6 overs. Curran was really good with the ball, and I think we did well in general with the ball, but the batsmen let the bowlers down today,” he said.
He further added: “Rotation of strike was important, but I think there were hardly any boundaries in the final few overs, so we need to be innovative at the end when they are continuously hitting a back of a length. That's where we need to adapt better with the bat and I don't think we did that.”
