In one of the most exciting thrillers of IPL 2021, MS Dhoni said that it was easy to stay calm in the climax. Chennai Super Kings captain who led the side to a fantastic win in the 15th IPL match of the edition shared the mantra of handling such situation in cricket.
Dhoni after winning thriller
Kolkata Knight Rider after reeling at 31/5 put up an unbelievable fight against CSK bowlers and went on to chase down a daunting target of 221 almost successfully. They fell short of 18 runs at the end but the fight would be cherished by the fans for long. The CSK bowlers managed to dismiss them for 202 in 19.1 over to claim the win. Speaking about such situation in a match, Dhoni said, “Quite easy to stay calm in a game like this. From the 15th-16th over onwards the contest was between the fast bowler and the batsman. You can’t do too much. Can’t put different field. It’s about you vs me (batsman vs bowler).” He added, “The side that has won is possibly a side that has executed slightly better. But if they would’ve had more wickets, could’ve been different. You never know if they had played the full 20 overs.”
He further explained why it is important to be humble on the ground. “I have seen enough in cricket, always like to be humble. There’s no good reason if you have scored 220, the opposition can’t score. My lines to the players was that we have got good runs on the board but let’s be humble.”
Dhoni on Ruturaj Gaikwad
Dhoni hailed the performance of youngster Ruturaj Gaikwad. Gaikwad’s 64 off 42 after three failures in the tournament made the solid base for CSK batters to add runs. “The batting has been really good. Rutu is somebody who has shown his class in the last IPL. You always need to assess where he is mentally. Once when he was off guard, I just asked him how are you feeling today. When you put a question like that, you wait for the reactions, you see what’s in his eyes. There was enough in his reactions to suggest he wasn’t rattled. He has the basics to make it big. What would have helped him is the first few games last year.”
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