Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni accepted his team’s tight loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, saying they fell a bit short at the death in pursuit of 214 at Chinnaswamy Stadium. CSK had only 35 runs left off the last three overs and 15 from six balls, but failed to surpass the score. Dhoni, who entered in the 17th over to bat along with Ravindra Jadeja, hit a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the last but one over but was caught lbw by Yash Dayal in the last over, and the team had 13 runs to get from the last three balls.
Romario Shepherd Heroics
Impact Player Shivam Dube smashed a waist-high full toss for six on his first delivery, but failed to script a victory. CSK ultimately fell short by two runs. RCB, led by a merciless rampage by Romario Shepherd, who smacked a 14-ball 53 with six sixes and four fours, scoring 54 runs in the last two overs, had posted a massive 213 ahead of that.
MS Dhoni Takes The Blame On Himself
Looking at the loss, Dhoni noted that CSK’s bowlers had to be sharper with their yorkers in the death overs to keep the RCB batters at bay.
“Well, I think looking at [that] over, when I went into that with the kind of deliveries and the runs needed, I felt I should have converted maybe a couple of more shots, and that would have eased the pressure,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. “So, I would take the blame for it.”
Dhoni Praises Shepherd
“Other than that, I thought they got off to a good start. In between, we pulled it back,” Dhoni said. “But Romario Shepherd, in the death overs, was brilliant. Whatever our bowlers were bowling, he was able to get maximum runs.”
“We Need To Practice More Yorkers”
“I think we need to practise more yorkers because if you see more often than not, when the batsman starts to connect, then you have to rely on yorkers and the margin of error,” Dhoni said. “So, if you’re looking for a perfect yorker, [and] if that doesn’t happen, a low full toss is the next best thing because it’s one of the most difficult balls to hit. So, I think that’s where we need to improve.
“And somebody like a [Matheesha] Pathirana, you know, if the yorkers are not happening, he has got pace. He can bowl a bouncer at the same time, [and] keep the batsman guessing. Because, at times, if he’s looking for the yorker, batsmen try to line him up, and if he misses, the batsman has a chance of hitting.”
