Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni slammed his batsmen as the CSK faced a 37-run defeat against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 clash at Dubai on Saturday (October 10).
Chasing a target of 170 runs, the Dhoni-led side scored 132 for 8 in 20 overs with only Ambati Rayudu (42), N Jagadeesan (33), Faf du Plessis (14) and Dhoni (10) managing to score in double digits.
“Batting has been bit of a worry and today also it was evident. We need to do something about it. We can’t just keep turning up.. it is almost the same thing that is happening maybe the individuals are different but I think we are better off playing the other way round – play the big shots and even if you get out it is fine because we can’t leave too many after the 15th or 16th over that just puts too much pressure on the lower order batsmen,” Dhoni said afyter the match.
“Our batting has lacked a bit of, you can say, power more from the 6th over onwards, individuals get tentative and no matter how much confidence you are giving them, ultimately they have to have their own plan as to how to play,” he added.
Dhoni also expressed unhappiness over the performance by his bowlers and said that there are “too many holes” in CSK’s ship at the moment and the team must plug these holes without wasting any more time.
“Think the last 4 overs when we were bowling (didn’t go to plan), before that the bowlers had done a good job, we needed to close it nicely. I feel when it comes to our bowling we have shown we can restrict the opposition, either we give too many in the first six or the last four. Too many holes in the ship and when you try to plug one there is water flowing from another. We need to get our act together. Everything needs to work in the same game to get a result. Once we get a result in our favour it will be slightly different for us,” Dhoni said.
This was CSK’s second defeat in a row. The three-time IPL champions are now at sixth place with just 2 wins from 7 games. RCB meanwhile, are at 4th spot after winning four games.