In yesterday’s match between CSK and RR, while chasing, CSK needed 20 runs in the final over. Everyone thought that Dhoni and Jadeja would finish it off to seal the victory. However, Sandeep Sharma held his nerve and successfully defended 20 runs in the final over.
After the match, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri asked Dhoni to reflect on his calculative assault on RR bowlers in the death overs.
“With 6 (5) needed off 1 ball, he bowled 2 really good deliveries from around the wicket. Any thing going on your mind to change something or just wait?” Asked Shastri.
“I would wait for it and that is something which has worked for me, and at the end of the day, the bowler is under more pressure, even if he misses by a few inches, I can hit it for a six. You need to back your strength and my strength is to hit straight,” Dhoni said.
“You see the field, see the bowler and what the bowler is trying to do, after that just stand still and wait for them to commit the mistake, if they bowl in good areas then good luck to them. ,” Dhoni added.
The CSK skipper was very critical of his top-order for facing too many dot balls and letting the required rate climb.
“I think in the middle overs we needed a bit more strike rotation, there were too many dot balls. There wasn’t much for the spinners but they had experienced spinners and we could not rotate strike. It was not that difficult and the ownership (of the loss) should come from the batters. It was good that we could reach striking distance (of the target) as we were the last pair,” Dhoni added.