Chennai, : After suffering a six-wicket defeat at the hands of Mumbai Indians (MI) in the Qualifier 1 here at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper said that the match did not really go their way and blamed poor batting for the loss.
“Somebody has to lose, it didn’t really go our way, especially the batting. When you know home conditions. You have to assess very quickly how the wicket is playing,” CSK captain said at the post-match presentation ceremony on Tuesday.
“That’s the bonus of playing at home, you’ve already played six games or seven games, so you know how the wicket has played, whether it is a bit tacky, whether it is coming on or not coming on. What is a good score that we should put on the board,” he added.
He also urged his batsmen to improve their performance while expressing disappointment over the senior players’ performance.
“I think the batting needs to get slightly better, Dhoni said, adding, “When you have experienced players in the side, that’s what you bank upon them. You’re not banking on them for extraordinary fielding. It’s just that they have to use their experience slightly more. I hope they will crack the code, ” former India skipper said.
Earlier in the day, CSK won the toss and decided to bat first. With the help of Rahul Chahar’s brilliant figures of two wickets for 14 runs in 4 overs, Mumbai reduced CSK to a modest score of 131 runs in stipulated 20 overs before achieving the target with nine balls to spare.
For CSK, Ambati Rayudu scored unbeaten 42 runs, while Dhoni also made unbeaten 37 runs.
Suryakumar Yadav was named Man of the match for his 71* runs knock ( 54 balls, 10 fours).
Now, CSK will play the winner of Eliminator match that will he played between Delhi Capitals and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
(UNI)