Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the third-wicket partnership between Suresh Raina and S Badrinath provided him with the “perfect platform” to launch the final assault in their ClT20 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, here on Friday.
“We got off to a good start and it was important to build on that. A total of 180+ was easily chased here so considering that the perfect platform we got from Badrinath and Raina, I looked to hit hard and it worked,” said Dhoni at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Raina smashed a quickfire 57-ball 84 while Dhoni produced a belligerent unbeaten knock of 63 as Chennai Super Kings pulled off a narrow 12-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a Group ‘B’ match. Chasing a daunting 203-run target, Sunrisers came close to scoring an unlikely win before settling at 190 for seven. Raina and Badrinath added 70 runs for the third-wicket partnership in just 46 balls.
Dhoni praised his fast bowlers for outwitting opposition batsmen with subtle variations and perfection. “The wicket was good as the game progressed. There was more dew on the field later on and the ball was coming on nicely. I think the bowlers did a good job but I feel there were situations where we could have closed the overs well,” he said.
Sunrisers skipper Shikhar Dhawan said losing three wickets in middle of the innings changed the complexion of their run-chase. He whole-heartedly praised CSK Skipper Dhoni for his whirrlwind knock and said nothing seemed to work when he was batting. “We thought 170-180 was a par score but Dhoni bhai played an amazing knock. Yorkers didn’t work and you needed to bowl variation here. He played a special knock.”