ANOTHER MILESTONE FOR DHONI AT IPL
BECOMES FIRST CRICKETER TO CAPTAIN IN 150 LEAGUE MATCHES
PUNE : The match against Mumbai Indians on Saturday went down to the wire, but the Chennai Super Kings bowlers never looked threatening and that maybe a cause for concern as they prepare to face a rejuvenated Delhi Daredevils on Monday. Mumbai paced their innings well, didn’t take risks and crossed the line with ease. The turning points were over No 18 and 19 in which Mumbai amassed 32 runs and made sure there weren’t any jitters as they crossed the line.
The Chennai bowlers tried but came up short against the Mumbai batsmen. Even skipper MS Dhoni agreed in the post-match presentation that the bowlers could have fared better.
“Mumbai bowled well in the middle overs. You need pace on this wicket, they bowled back of length, so it wasn’t coming on. If you have pace, you can push the batsmen back. Playing crossbatted shots wasn’t easy. Choice of deliveries could’ve been better from our bowlers,” said a dejected Dhoni as Chennai suffered their second loss of the season.
They also lost Deepak Chahar,
who did a good job while opening the bowling, for two weeks with a pulled hamstring. That reduces the fast bowling options as the only other recognised Indian pacer is Shardul Thakur.
The overseas options are Lungi Ngidi, who returned on Saturday from his father’s funeral in South Africa, Mark Wood and David Willey.
It will be interesting to see if Dhoni persists with a threepronged spin attack or adds firepower to his arsenal against the Daredevils, who will be pumped up after a convincing win over Kolkata Knight Riders in their last match.
On a Pune pitch that assists bowlers ready to go the extra yard, as shown by Jasprit Bumrah on Saturday, there is not much firepower in Chennai’s bowling at the moment. Dwayne Bravo, Shane Watson and Thakur are not the fastest and depend on guile to outsmart batsmen.
Chennai would also re-think their death bowling strategy where they are heavily dependent on Bravo to curtail the run flow. Thakur has been used with the West Indian but hasn’t been consistent.
Coach Stephen Fleming tried to play down the inconsistency in the death overs. “We have worked hard on getting his (Shardul’s) planning right in the death overs. That’s still a work in progress. You also have to look that most teams are struggling to bowl in the death because the hitting is so good. There is no better evidence of it than our last few games and the way we have been batting. So, it’s a tough skill and it’s getting harder,” said the New Zealander.