“It is important now, every game is important”, Dhoni confident of CSK comeback

MS Dhoni returned as CSK captain in the Indian Premier League after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. He came to toss in match against Kolkata Knight Riders and looked all set for a strong comeback. He also spoke about Ruturaj and talked in detail about the importance of every game going forward.

Dhoni on importance of winning every game

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss against Chennai Super Kings and chose to bowl first. The Chennai crowd welcomed back Dhoni to his old role as CSK captain amidst massive cheer. Despite losing the toss, Dhoni looked confident. While asked, he explained why CSK planned to bat first as well. “We were looking to bat first. Quite a few occasions where we tried to chase it down and what we realised is that the wicket slows down a bit, so if you don’t get a good start then the middle order comes under pressure.”

Chennai Super Kings have had a forgettable season thus far. They have won just one out of five games so far making every game significant and must-win from now on. Dhoni remarked, “It is important now, every game is important. We have lost too many matches and now it is important to do the basics right – have dot balls, take our catches. A couple of games we lost by big margins, but otherwise it was about the small things – about one over going for 20 runs. Our batters are more authentic as batters, they won’t slog everything. They just need to back their instincts. It is important to start well, get boundaries early on and try to get a couple of early wickets as well.”

Tripathi replaces Ruturaj

Dhoni further gave update on Ruturaj’s injury who had to leave the tournament following injury. “He has fractured something on his elbow, so he is ruled out of the tournament. He is a very authentic batter, someone who looks to time the ball well. So yeah, he will be a big miss.” As far as CSK’s team is concerned, Rahul Tripathi and Anshul Kambhoj replaced Ruturaj and Mukesh Choudhary respectively.

Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Rahul Tripathi, Vijay Shankar, Shivam Dube, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Noor Ahmad, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Moeen Ali, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy

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