MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina
A confident Chennai Super Kings (CSK) unit defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets on Friday to claim the top spot in the IPL 2021 points table. Put in to bat first, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 156 for six in the allotted 20 overs.
In response, CSK completed the task in 18.1 overs. Ruturaj Gaikwad (38) and Faf du Plessis (31) added 71 runs for the first wicket to set the tone for CSK's chase. RCB were off to a flying start with skipper Virat Kohli (53) and Devdutt Padikkal (70) laying a solid foundation with a stand of 111 runs for the opening wicket.
Winning skipper MS Dhoni pointed out the importance of Ravindra Jadeja's spell against the Bangalore outfit when the Sharjah pitch "slowed down a bit".
"Jadeja's spell was very crucial especially with the way Padikkal was batting from one end. I told Moeen that he would bowl from one end during drinks, but then I changed my mind," he said in the post-match presentation.
Dhoni also acknowledged Dwayne Bravo's contribution with the ball and pointed out the left-right batting combination that helped Chennai on the wicket.
"Our players have worked hard and understood their roles and responsibilities. All three grounds here are different. This one is the slowest of the lot. I felt the left-right combination here was important with the bat. We bat deep with a lot of lefties and all of them are good to bat at any position, which is why we pushed Raina and Rayudu down.
"Bravo is fit and executing them well. I call him my brother and we always have fights over whether he should bowl the slower ball. But now everyone knows that he has the slower ball, so I told him to bowl six different balls in an over," he further said.
Virat Kohli, on the other hand, admitted that his side lacked the "X-factor" at the start while restricting Chennai's run-flow. He also labelled 175 as a "winning total", highlighting his side's struggles with the ball.
"175 would've been a winning total. Didn't bowl consistently. Didn't show that much courage I guess with the ball. They bowled well in the back end of the innings, executed the slower balls and yorkers nicely. We spoke of areas we didn't want them to hit and we didn't do that.
"That little bit of X factor was missing in the first 5-6 overs. Got to get on that winning run again. This one is a bit more disappointing. The first one we just weren't in the game. Have to show more courage in crunch moments. This tournament goes by quickly," said Kohli.
