MS Dhoni's return as Chennai Super Kings skipper (CSK) was not on expected lines against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). CSK suffered their fifth straight defeat this season in their first six games.
KKR beat CSK by 8 wickets as they chased down 104 runs in just 10.1 overs. The win helped the Knight Riders to improve on their NRR big time and shoot it up. Currently, KKR is placed third on the points table with an NRR of +0.803.
Meanwhile, for CSK, this has been their worst IPL campaign by far, with cricket experts also going on to say that this is perhaps the weakest CSK outfit ever.
ADVERTISEMENT
Loading...
CSK scored 103 runs for 9 wickets against KKR on Friday, which is their lowest score ever at the Chepauk. MS Dhoni walked out to bat at number nine and was dismissed by Sunil Narine after scoring just one run off four balls.
CSK's decision to use Deepak Hooda as an Impact Sub also did not fetch any results, as he was dismissed for a duck. The KKR spinners were clinical inside the powerplay and clinical in the game overall. MS Dhoni blamed the defeat on his batters after the game in his post-match comments.
"It has been quite a few nights that has not gone our way. The challenge has been there, we have to accept the challenge. Today I felt we did not have enough runs on the board. It has been the case over here (Chepauk), when we bowled in the 2nd innings it stopped a bit, today it did in the first innings. When you lose too many wickets, there is pressure and with quality spinners it is difficult" Dhoni said after the match.
Never Got Any Partnerships Going: MS Dhoni On CSK's Batting Failure
Chennai Super Kings managed just 31 runs inside the powerplay losing two wickets. MSD said that the batters lacked partnerships and application out in the middle. Shivam Dube remained unbeaten with 31 runs off 29 balls as he ran out of partners and failed to capitalize in the final overs.
"We never got any partnerships and bit more partnerships, application and we would be fine. "Our openers are good openers, play authentic cricket shots, they don't slog or look to hit across the line. It is important not to get desperate seeing the scorecard. If we start looking for 60 with our lineup (in powerplay) it will be very difficult for us. "Get partnerships going, maybe capitalise in the middle and later overs and if we lose wickets, the middle order has to do their job differently. And the slog will be delayed for quite a while," Dhoni added saying.
Chennai Super Kings are currently placed ninth on the points table after their fifth successive loss of the season. They next take on LSG on April 14 in Lucknow.
