The Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming has opened up on MS Dhoni’s approach during the match against Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2024 campaign.
Stephen Fleming on MS Dhoni’s Approach
Chennai Super Kings suffered a first defeat in the ongoing IPL season during the match against Delhi Capitals. Despite suffering defeat in the match, MS Dhoni’s presence on the ground was enough for the cricketing fans.
MS Dhoni has been impressive with bat as he smashed 37* runs on 16 deliveries including 4 fours and 3 sixes. The head coach Stephen Fleming said that when it comes to game awareness, MS Dhoni‘s actions have been better.
The 20-run difference would have been larger if it wasn’t for MS Dhoni’s score. Despite undergoing knee surgery last year, he continued to stun the cricketing world with his batting and keeping skills.
While speaking in the post-match conference, Stephen Fleming said, “It was beautiful wasn’t it? He has been playing incredibly well pre-season. He is coming back from quite a serious injury. His batting has been superb. it gave us a positive vibe towards the end of a tough day.
“To get within 20 (runs of the target) run rate wise is important and he knows that. The way he played was spectacular,” said the former New Zealand captain.
“The result today is a fair reflection of the team’s play tonight. We were a little bit off tonight, we were slow at the start in the first six overs of each innings. We gave away too many runs in the first six when we bowled.
“When we batted, they were very good, created pressure and used the conditions very well. The little cameos from David Warner and Rishabh Pant pushed them to a very good score (191/5).”
Khaleel Ahmad spoke about the CSK’s defeat in the match saying “I was waiting for a long time to perform for the team. When I started, I realized I was getting good swing, so I just backed it up and didn’t allow the opposition any chance.”
“The more you play, the more you understand your game. The same happened with me as I have been playing continuously for six months, I got to understand my game plans, and my body and manage to play in small niggles.
“It all came due to the domestic season, it gave me good confidence before coming into the IPL and it’s been a great feeling.”
Coming to the match, Delhi Capitals batted first to post a score of 191 runs. Rishabh Pant who returned to cricket action after his car accident on December 2022 smashed fifty runs during the CSK clash.
David Warner was another scorer who smashed fifty while Prithvi Shaw scored 43 runs on 27 deliveries. By the end of their innings, Delhi Capitals lost five wickets for scoring 191 runs.
Matheesha Pathirana bagged three wickets for Chennai Super Kings. With the target of 192 runs, Chennai Super Kings opened their innings where the openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Rachin Ravindra were dismissed for 1 and 2 runs respectively.
Ajinkya Rahane smashed 46 runs to help the side to revive from early dismissals. Daryl Mitchell joined Rahane to score 34 runs for CSK. Dube scored 18 runs while Ravindra Jadeja smashed unbeaten 21 runs on 17 deliveries.
With MS Dhoni’s 37 runs, CSK scored 171 runs and failed to chase the target, losing the match by 20 runs difference.
With the match updates, CSK secured second place in the IPL 2024 points table and will be playing their next match against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 05 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
