Chennai Super Kings registered an emphatic win over Punjab Kings in their 11th match of the Indian Premier League. After scoring 167/9 in their 20 overs at the slow surface of the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, they restricted PBKS to 139/9 to register a crucial win.
After the match, CSK all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who produced a match-winning performance with both bat and the ball, said that the team fell short by 15-20 runs but the team bowled well. "We thought we were 15-20 runs short but we did not bowl loose balls in the power play and in the middle overs," Jadeja said at the post-match presentation.
"The fast bowlers bowled well in the power play. Tushar got two important wickets and then Mitch and me did the job in the middle overs," he said. Jadeja added that the surface was tricky to bat on in the middle overs.
"It was a day game, so the wicket was slow. As usual, it was expected because it was so hot. It (the pitch) always seems flat in the power play. But when the ball gets old, it does not always come on. When playing at a new venue, you don't know how much it will turn or stop," Jadeja added.
The CSK all-rounder also said that his role was to build partnerships and then go big. "My role as a batter is to build partnerships and then play the big shots towards the end. Sometimes, when we lose wickets in the power play, we do not get momentum. In the matches we win, we play all phases well," said Jadeja.
Meanwhile, Gaikwad also believed that the wicket was slow. "Everyone believed that the wicket was slow and the ball was coming off slow. There was low bounce too. With the start we got, we could have pushed to 180-200. We lost wickets in consecutive balls and then felt 160-170 was probably ten odd runs short," said Gaikwad.
