Former South African batsman AB de Villiers believes MS Dhoni is one of the greatest tacticians in the history of the game. Dhoni is one of the shrewdest minds in the game and he knows what is apt at what situation of the match, which makes him stay two steps ahead in the game. Chennai Super Kings skipper sharp mind was once again in action when he decided to bat first in the opener of the season against RCB.
The Chennai Super Kings spinners made the most of the available conditions and landed their balls in the right areas. Harbhajan Singh was the chief destroyer of the RCB’s batting line-up as he took big wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali. Subsequently, the visiting team was bundled out for a mere score of 70 runs.
MS Dhoni is a master.
Consequently, AB de Villiers is still zapped by the performance of Chennai Super Kings. In his column for the Times of India, De Villiers wrote, “The RCB preparation was excellent and we walked into the Lion’s Den, confident of making a strong start to the tournament. Instead, we were eaten alive in Chennai. Bowled out for 70! Nobody saw that coming. What happened? First, we lost the toss and were asked to bat first on a slow pitch, which hosted only one IPL match last year. So it was hard to tell what would be a reasonable target. Would we need 150 or 160? In the event, maybe 110 would have been competitive.”
Meanwhile, AB de Villiers also praised MS Dhoni, who was once again right on the money at the toss time. Furthermore, Dhoni was able to read the pitch better as he had picked more spinners in his playing XI. Dhoni had played Harbhajan Singh, Imran Tahir and Ravindra Jadeja. Moreover, Dhoni had the option of bowling Suresh Raina and Kedar Jadhav.
Harbhajan Singh was on fire.
“CSK field one of the most experienced teams in the tournament, with nine players over the age of 30. Captain MS Dhoni is one of the greatest tacticians in the history of the game and it wasn’t long before they began to apply the pressure in Game 1. It’s very unusual for both opening bowlers to run straight through their four overs but, with Deepak Chahar maintaining a tight line from one end, Harbhajan Singh bowled with skill from the other end, producing grip and turn. All of a sudden, we were 39 for four after eight overs and the opening match of the tournament was running away from us,” De Villiers added.
Meanwhile, AB de Villiers believes that his team should have gauged the conditions early and thus should have played according to the situation. However, in a bid to get a big score of 150, they ended up at 70, which was well below par. In fact, RCB bowlers had also breathed down the neck of the CSK batsmen but they didn’t have enough runs in the bank.
RCB were trying to jump the gun.
“We could have adjusted to the conditions more quickly but, in aiming for 150, we ended up with 70. Some of our batsmen, including me, were dismissed cheaply when looking to attack when we should have been content to nudge and accumulate. There is hardly any room for error at this level of T20 cricket and it becomes very difficult to reverse the momentum. In a yellow blur, 39 for four became 70 all out,” De Villiers wrote.
Meanwhile, it was a disappointing start for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. However, they would aim to turn the tables in their next match. Royal Challengers Bangalore will play their second match against Mumbai Indians at their home ground of M.Chinnaswamy Stadium on 28th March.