Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has criticised the low-scoring Chepauk pitch in Chennai, despite winning all their home games here so far.
Defending champions CSK thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by seven wickets Tuesday night for their fifth win in six games and fourth in a row at home.
KKR made 108 for nine, a target which CSK reached in 17.2 overs.
“I don’t think we want to be playing on these tracks. It becomes too low-scoring. It becomes slightly difficult for our batsmen as well. After losing (Dwayne) Bravo, it is slightly difficult for us to get the combination right,” said Dhoni after Tuesday’s win.
“We have been cribbing about the track but we have ended up winning the game.”
The inspirational skipper was all praise for veteran spinners Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir, who delivered yet again for CSK.
“Age is on their side (laughs). Bhajji (Harbhajan) has done well in whatever games he has played. I have fallen back on Tahir and he has done the job. He has confidence in me. He has got a very good flipper,” Dhoni said.
“He (Tahir) is someone who, if you tell that this is the right pace to bowl on, he does it most of the times. I feel it’s important not to have the same plans for batters,” he added.
‘NEEDED MORE RUNS’
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik said, “Definitely not enough runs on the board. These are tricky games and you don’t know how many runs to set with the dew and everything, but when the game finishes you feel you should gave got 20 more runs, so it’s always a Catch-22 situation. When you lose four wickets in the PowerPlay, you are always behind the eight-ball. Then you have to consolidate and probably hope to go well towards the end, but we couldn’t do that.”
“But credit to Russell – he showed a lot of maturity and I am pleased with the way he’s shaping up. I was happy with the general attitude: I like the way we tried defending a small total, especially the spinners, with the wet ball. I don’t think it was a lack of concentration from our side with the bat. We have been on the road for three games, but have won two in five days and we shouldn’t be too greedy. We’ve tried hard and as a captain I am okay with not coming up on top every day. When we return, we need to regroup. Two good teams playing and it should be a good match against Delhi next. (Message to the team) Enjoy, forget today, next game is a new game, a new day.”