Confident Chennai face Hyderabad
I had extra motivation against my old team, says match-winner Watson
Fresh from a thumping win over Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings will lock horns with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the 20th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here today.
The Mahendra Singh Dhoni-led Chennai side hammered Rajasthan by 64 runs on Friday at home before narrowly missing a win against Kings XI Punjab (KXIP).
Shane Watson’s 106 runs from just 57 balls helped Chennai Super Kings post a comfortable 64-run win against Rajasthan Royals in Pune on Friday. This was Watson’s third ton in the IPL, and courtesy this win, CSK have now reached at top of the points table.
“There’s no doubt I had extra motivation tonight (against his former team). It is nice to put in the performance that I did tonight. I’m grateful for the opportunity I’ve had for CSK. Glad to repay them tonight,” Watson said while speaking at the post-match press conference.
There were a few dropped catches in the match, and to those Watson replied, “It’s just one of those things that happened in the first couple of overs. You don’t mean to drop them, but that’s the way it goes. It went my way tonight, and you got to make the most of it.”
“I’m still working on certain aspects of the game. ‘MS’ and Fleming know how to set up a really good team dynamic. Fortunate to be a part of CSK and to contribute to the win. Watson also had a word of praise for Chris Gayle. He said, “Chris Gayle is the greatest T20 batsman in the world. To be able to score so many T20 hundreds is great. That’s the reason he’s called the Universe Boss. He keeps bossing attacks around the world,” he added.
Before losing to KXIP, the yellow brigade pulled couple of wins from the jaws of defeat against Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders.
The best part for Chennai is that most of their batters have fired whenever the situation demanded. While Dwayne Bravo (68 off 30) and Sam Billings’ (56 off 23) brilliant knocks handed CSK a nail-biting win against MI and KKR respectively, skipper Dhoni (79 off 44) was almost about to pull a win against Punjab in a high-scoring clash.
Opener Ambati Rayudu has also amassed 122 runs from four outings averaging 30.50.
Hyderabad are at the third spot in the points table with three wins from four games.