Chennai Super Kings suffered a narrow two-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match on Saturday, with CSK captain MS Dhoni accepting responsibility for failing to convert crucial shots during the chase of 214 runs at Bengaluru.
Ayush Mhatre’s explosive 94 off 48 balls and Ravindra Jadeja’s unbeaten 77 from 45 deliveries went in vain as CSK fell short of the target, unable to score four runs off the final ball.
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The duo of Mhatre and Jadeja had positioned CSK strongly with their partnership of 114 runs off 64 balls for the third wicket.
“When I went into bat, with the kind of deliveries and the runs needed, I felt I should have converted a couple more shots to ease the pressure. I take the blame,” Dhoni said after the match.
Dhoni acknowledged CSK’s batting limitations, particularly their struggle with low-full tosses.
“Not all batters are comfortable playing that (the paddle) shot. (It is) something the batters need to practice in the modern era. But most of our batters are not comfortable playing it,” he stated.
“Jadeja plays that shot but he was backing his shots (down the ground) more. Batting was an area where we were slightly behind. But today, as a department, feel the batting did very well,” Dhoni added.
RCB captain Rajat Patidar praised his team’s batting performance and Yash Dayal’s death bowling.
“It was a tight game but credit goes to the batsmen the way they batted. The way the bowlers shown the courage, it was tremendous,” Patidar said.
“He (Dayal) is a main bowler of the team, he is a death specialist, it was a clear-cut thought to give the last over to Yash. Last year also he did well and I’m happy for him. I had confidence in Suyash (Sharma) also, till now he has been bowling good overs for RCB,” Patidar added.
RCB’s Romario Shepherd, who scored the fastest fifty of the season with an unbeaten 53 off 14 balls, played a crucial role in the victory.
“Today I had my opportunity. I was waiting for a long time, finally got out to bat, wanted to give the team a good finish,” Shepherd said.
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“(It is due to) my base and the way I swing. Timmy (Tim David) was telling me to just hold my shape and swing from there as the ball as holding,” he explained.
“The first couple of games we were failing as a batting unit. DK (Dinesh Karthik, batting coach and mentor) took us and gave us specific work, it paid off today,” Shepherd concluded.
