IPL 2022: Batsmanship let us down – MS Dhoni after loss against RCB

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni feels the batsmanship let them down after they lost against Royal Challengers Bangalore by 13 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Wednesday. CSK had to chase down 174 runs after MS won the toss and decided to bowl first.

In fact, CSK were well on their way to the target but Dhoni believes some of the shot selection towards the end of the innings let them down in the run chase. As the middle-order could not deliver the goods for the reigning champions, they fell short by 13 runs.

Dhoni, who has all the experience of chasing down such totals in his career, feels chasing is more about calculations whereas the first innings is more about instincts.

Chennai Super Kings were in a shoo-in position at 109-3 but they kept losing wickets at regular intervals to get themselves on the backfoot. Mooen Ali and Ruturaj Gaikwad got off to starts but could not convert their score into a substantial one.

MS feels they need to analyse what went wrong for them and bounce back stronger. In fact, the track was helpful for the spinners and CSK veered off the track towards the end.

MS Dhoni said in the post-match presentation, “We did well to restrict them to 170-odd runs. I felt in the later half it (the surface) could be better and we had to get off to a good start, everything was up to the mark and what let us down was the batsmanship. When you are chasing you know what is required and at times you have to curb your instinct and see what really the situation is demanding rather than playing your shots. The shot selection could have been better towards the end.”

He added, “We had a good start and had wickets in hand, the surface kept getting better but we lost wickets at regular intervals. We can look back at some of the shots, if we take care of those things.. chasing is about calculations and batting first is more about instinct. Ultimately as a batter or bowler you are in the middle and you have to decide, I don’t think that was a problem today. We need to keep looking about what went wrong, it is easy to get distracted with how many points you have, it is the mistakes and it is the process that matters rather than where you are positioned in the points table.”

There is no doubt that CSK bowlers did a good job in restricting the opposition at 173 but their batting unit did let them down. CSK will next face Delhi Capitals at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Sunday.