The CSK skipper MS Dhoni was not happy with the batting sense or the game awareness shown by his batsmen in the pursuit of a target of 174 against Royal Challengers Bangalore yesterday. It was a wicket that couldn’t be classified as a flat wicket because the ball was gripping and turning as well in the first innings, but according to Dhoni, the wicket got better to bat on in the second innings.
What Dhoni wanted from his batsmen was to make sure they didn’t lose wickets at regular intervals after they had got a good start. The opening partnership of CSK, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway, had added 50 runs in the powerplay and CSK was well on course in the chase.
But, then a couple of quick wickets put a little bit of brake on their run-scoring. However, MS Dhoni stressed in his post-match interview that the CSK batsmen had to keep calculating what the requirement was in terms of the kind of shots that they could play and against which bowlers.
Batting first is about instincts, batting second is about calculation: MS Dhoni
Dhoni said when a team bats first, then it’s more about the instinct of the batsmen because there is no target in front of them and they can let their batting instincts take over, but when they are chasing, it’s about batsmanship which includes calculation of various factors, what the bowlers are trying to do, how the field is set and what could be the scoring options which are likely to be more fruitful.
CSK required 56 runs in the last 5 overs of the game and although RCB had some good death bowlers at their disposal, CSK still could have pursued their chase slightly more smoothly than they did. The men in yellow scored just 9 runs in the 16th and 17th over together, which put them in a tangle and they eventually fell short of the target by 13 runs.
