Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has praised the young bowling contingent at his side in his final post-match presentation in the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League.
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Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni has praised the young bowling contingent at his side in his final post-match presentation in the 2022 season of the Indian Premier League. After losing their final game of the season against Rajasthan Royals, in Brabourne, CSK finished with eight points from 14 games as well. Notably, they were eliminated from the playoffs race much before. However, it was Ravichandran Ashwin’s batting masterclass (40 runs off 23 balls) that beat Chennai Super Kings in the final overs of the exciting match as well.
While speaking after the game, MS Dhoni has said that the team needed to realise that they were well short of runs and the total could easily have been different if they had not lost wickets in quick successions after the powerplay. However, Chennai Super Kings had scored 75 off the first six overs, and then struggled throughout the rest of the innings, putting up just 150 on the board in their allotted 20 overs as well.
“What we need to realise is we’re playing a batter light. Once we lost those quick wickets, Moeen had to change his momentum. I feel if one of the batters had batted with him, he could have continued his momentum. The role and responsibility got slightly swapped once we lost those wickets and that made it really difficult. So a batter light with the last four, they’re not really known for their batting. If we went hard and lost another wicket there, we wouldn’t have got anything that we would look to defend. I would say 10-15 (runs short). You need to bowl well after that. If their openers get going and if they get too many in the first six, then also 180 is not enough,” said MS Dhoni after the match.
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While speaking about the youngsters in the team, the captain has said that one of the biggest wins of the season was how much the young bowlers had learnt in their stint with the side this season. He also opened up about Sri Lankan player Matheesha Pathirana and said that he would be a big player for Chennai Super Kings as well. Notably, MS Dhoni has earlier shared that he will continue to play for CSK in the next season while hoping to play at his home ground and going all over the country to say goodbye to his fans too.
“Whatever games they have got, they have learned a lot from it. One of the biggest examples is Mukesh. He has played all the games but what is impressive is to see from the first game to the last game how he has improved, how he can bowl at the death. Still what he will do is go back and learn out of the outings he has got. That’s what we really want from players,” Dhoni said.
“Once they have got that experience, what is important from next year once they turn up from IPL is that they don’t start from scratch again. That is what is needed from the youngsters and most of them have made the most of whatever chance they have got,” MS Dhoni has mentioned that he had high expectations from the youngsters of the team in the next season as well. “Our Malinga, he’s really good. It’s difficult to pick him and I feel he will definitely contribute next year for us in a big way.”
