Chennai Super Kings produced their best cricket in this season so far to beat a confident Delhi Capitals side by six wickets to book a place in the final against Mumbai Indians on May 12 (Sunday) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Following another emphatic win, MS Dhoni credited his spinners for putting in an outstanding effort at Visakhapatnam.
Batting first, Delhi Capitals could only manage 147 runs with contributions from Rishabh Pant and Colin Munro. Ishant Sharam took on Ravindra Jadeja in the last over to put a challenging score on the board. Meanwhile, MS Dhoni used his bowlers to perfection as they rise to the occasion at the right time. However, Chennai openers – Shane Watson and Faf du Plessis murdered the chase 81 runs for the first wicket. Both of them brought their fifties before Abati Rayudu took the side over the line.
Credit goes to the spinners: Dhoni
MS Dhoni credited the bowlers for putting in an outstanding effort. Everybody stood to the occasion to contain Delhi Capitals to 147 runs. Dhoni said the pitch remains a patchy earlier on and the bowlers have made full use of the conditions. Especially, the Chennai skipper mentioned about his spinners for chipping in wickets every time they came into the attack.
“The bowling effort was brilliant, and we kept it in the right areas, not allowing Delhi to get a big score. It’s important to get their openers out – their batting line-up is really strong and they have many left-handers and we have a left-arm spinner to negate them. The ground is a little small, so it is important for them to keep getting wickets. I think the credit needs to go to the spinners, the captain only asks them that I will use you at this point of time,” Dhoni said at the end of the game.
Meanwhile, MS Dhoni pointed out that he would have wanted his openers to score in a few more runs. However, he sounded happy to make it to the finals in consecutive years.
“I would have preferred the openers to get a few more runs. If the openers had stayed and done the finishing after the hard yards, that would have been better, but I’m happy to take the win anyway,” he concluded.