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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) played the role of the finisher perfectly against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). MS Dhoni did not have to face a single delivery of spin and he wasn't troubled by LSG pacers as he hit four fours and a six in his unbeaten 11-ball 26. For his first knock in winning cause in this Indian Premier League (IPL) season, Dhoni was named 'Player of the match'. He was surprised by the decision to give him the award and name-dropped Noor Ahmad who did not pick a wicket but conceded just 13 runs from his quota of four overs.
"Even today I was like - "why are they giving me the award?" Noor bowled really well," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation.
With the award Dhoni thought he did not deserve, he broke an all-time IPL record previously held by leg-spinner Pravin Tambe. He became the oldest player in IPL history to get a 'Player of the match' award aged 43 years and 281 days. Tambe was 43 years and 60 days old when he broke legendary Shane Warne's record (41 years and 223 days).
Dhoni blames Chepauk pitches for low powerplay scores
Dhoni reflected on CSK's poor start and said that the win against LSG will give them confidence. He pointed out that one of the reasons behind CSK's batting troubles is the kind of pitches being prepared back home. Against LSG, they scored 59 runs in the powerplay overs, their highest in the season so far.
"It's good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately the [earlier] matches didn't go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It's good to have a win on our side. Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve. We all knew that when it doesn't come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game," the veteran wicketkeeper-batter said.
"And then we weren't able to get the start we wanted as a batting unit. Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent. One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side. When we have played away from home, the batting unit has done slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better so that it'll give the batters confidence to play their shots. You don't want to play timid cricket."
Dhoni is not the only one to criticise the home pitch. A few captains in the ongoing tournament including Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) Ajinkya Rahane and Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) Pat Cummins have complained about not having home advantage. CSK head coach Stephen Fleming had expressed his concerns as well.
CSK's next clash
Despite their second win from seven games, CSK are still at the bottom of the points table as their net run rate (NRR) is inferior to three teams. Their next clash is against Mumbai Indians (MI) at Wankhede Stadium on April 20.
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