Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered a dramatic defeat against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi. It was their 4th defeat in IPL 2020 in what appeared like a sure-shot win till the middle overs in the second innings. Speaking on the 10-run defeat, skipper MS Dhoni cited the lack of rotation and boundary hitting in the latter stages as the core reasons behind their team failing to chase the run-tally.
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The three-time IPL winning captain mentioned that while they did well on the bowling front, it was the batters who let the bowlers down in the concluded contest.
“In the middle overs, there was a phase where they bowled 2-3 good overs. If we batted better and didn’t lose 2-3 wickets in a row, we should’ve been careful in the first 5-6 overs. Curran was really good with the ball, and I think we did well in general with the ball, but the batsmen let the bowlers down today,” said Dhoni in the post-match interaction.
Other than Deepak Chahar (0/47), CSK bowlers were spot on in the last outing and did a brilliant job in curbing KKR batters from settling down.
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Sam Curran (2/26), Shardul Thakur (2/28), and Dwayne Bravo (3/37) excelled in restricting the scoring rate and getting those crucial wickets at regular intervals.
Leg-spinner Karn Sharma (2/25) bagged the wickets of left-handers – Nitish Rana (9) and Sunil Narine (17) – who could have posed a threat if well set on the crease.
Need to be innovative with the shot selections: MS Dhoni
Dhoni added that there wasn’t much strike rotation and rarely any boundaries in the last few overs of the game. He even pointed out the need to be innovative with the shot selections depending upon the delivery bowled in the later stages, something they lacked versus KKR.
“Rotation of strike was important, but I think there were hardly any boundaries in the final few overs. So, we need to be innovative at the end when they are continuously hitting a back of a length. That’s where we need to adapt better with the bat and I don’t think we did that,” said the 39-year-old.
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The Men in Yellow had a decent start to the 168-run chase, with opener Shane Watson racking a 40-ball 50 and along with Ambati Rayudu (27), the duo formed a 69-run stand for the second wicket.
At the time when Rayudu and Watson were batting, CSK needed 69 runs in 48 deliveries. However, the loss of wickets in the next few overs and the inability to build a striking partnership cost them the previous outing.
Skipper MS Dhoni and Sam Curran’s departure brought KKR back into the game, and the pressure on Ravindra Jadeja and Kedar Jadhav just escalated. With 39 needed in 17 deliveries, the duo formed an unbeaten 28 runs stand but lost the game by 10 runs.
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With this loss, CSK suffered a drop in their position, and they are now seated at the 5th spot with 2 wins in 6 matches, 4 points, and an NRR of -0.371.
The Dhoni-led team will lock horns with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on October 10 in Dubai.
 skipper MS Dhoni pointed out the reason for the loss at the hands KKR in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.){kind=link}