Dhoni, Raina power Super Kings to victory
An ebullient finish from MS Dhoni that built on Suresh Raina's consummate half-century set up a 12-run victory for Chennai Super Kings over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi
An ebullient finish from MS Dhoni that built on Suresh Raina's consummate half-century set up a 12-run victory for Chennai Super Kings over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi
Scorer: Sanjay Murari | Commentator: Vishal Dikshit
11.55pm An easy win for CSK in the end as Sunrisers' batsmen could not capitalise on the opening stand of 88. Dhawan and Parthiv kept the scoring rate above nine but once the stand was broken, wickets kept falling. Sammy's sixes gave them some hope but he ran out of partners as the asking rate kept climbing. Dhoni's knock proved to be the difference in the match with those extra runs.
That's all we have for you today, its Vishal Dikshit signing off. Goodbye!
Dwayne Bravo: It was important that we used variations while bowling. It was a good wicket so we had to be smart with where to bowl, I tried not to be too predictable. Bowling full in these conditions is not the right way to go, we tried to use the skills and it wasn't easy to bowl. I watched and learned while they were bowling and made sure we didn't make the mistakes. It's a very good to be a part of this team and always a pleasure to watch Dhoni bat. I have a part to play in the team and along with manamgent, captain I'm happy that it's a good move by the CSK management.
Shikhar Dhawan: The way Parthiv and I were batting, we gave a good start but we lost three wickets quickly which changed the match. We thought 170-180 was a par score but Dhoni bhai played an amazing knock. Yorkers didn't work and you needed to bowl variation here. I'm enjoying my batting and I've been in good form so I'm enjoying it. It was a good challenge under pressure but I want to win more games. We've got a very strong side, all the players are good fighters and we can trouble any team. The positive from this match was that we lost by only 15 runs and we have to stay positive.
MS Dhoni: The wicket was very good as the game progressed. There was more dew on the field later on and the ball was coming on nicely. It was difficult for the fast bowlers to execute and it worked well for those who used variations. We got off to a good start and it was important to build on that. 180+ was easily chased here so considering that the platform we got from Badri and Raina, I looked to hit and it worked. I think the credit goes to the wicket. As u see these days, boundaries are not very big in T20s. It was very entertaining for the people of Ranchi and th support for CSK has been great. Out last game is here and I expect more people to come. Our bowlers bowled well but I feel there were situations where we could have closed the overs well, say after giving a boundary in the first few balls of the over. It's important to bowl dot balls, the side batting second can rotate freely and even if required run rate is 11-12 per over, but with dew around, it is chaseable.
Suresh Raina is the Man of the Match: I had a very good session with Flem earlier. I couldn't finish off the first game and today i did it. MS batted very well and Jason bowled in the right areas. I've worked very hard with Duncan in the last six months and he's been telling me to play with a clear mind. The tour of South Africa worked very well for me, Shikhar and the ones who bowled very well. I hope to continue to perform like this. It's always good to bat at No. 3 then u have 18-19 overs to play. To Shikhar and Parthiv, I looked to ball to the stumps and Parthiv was looking to sweep so I went for the stumps. MS batted very well and Sammy also batted really well. Jason has been working very hard, there's a lot of cricket coming up so we'll look to win more matches.
Today's tendency to hit sixes right from the start of the innings, and reliance on upper-body strength, is a radical change from coaching values of flexibility and getting your eye in
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An ebullient finish from MS Dhoni that built on Suresh Raina's consummate half-century set up a 12-run victory for Chennai Super Kings over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Ranchi