Mahendra Singh Dhoni took the game away from us, says James Hopes, Delhi Daredevils skipper
James Hopes, the current http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820, Chennai Super Kings’ skipper, was the main reason for their 18-run defeat against Chennai Super Kings.
Dhoni’s unbeaten 63 runs during the 56th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) fourth edition, guided his side to a splendid victory.
During the post-match press conference, Hopes said that his side was dominant in the first 15 overs but Dhoni’s strong batting changed the situation in the end.
Chennai, while batting first, set a target of 177 runs for the loss of four wickets. They started their innings with the openers – Michael Hussey and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Murali-Vijay-c78035.
The first wicket fell in the first over, when Hussey was trapped lbw by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Irfan-Pathan-c1601.
Suresh Raina was the next batsman to come on the crease, who along with Yuplayed a partnership of 35 run.
Rania went to the pavilion after adding only14 runs, when he was caught by Pathan off the bowling of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Varun-Aaron-c2744.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Subramaniam-Badrinath-c91587 then set a big stand of 96 runs with CSK skipper, Dhoni.
The right handed batsman played a crucial innings of 55 runs off 43 balls including six fours and one six, before he was run out by Pathan.
Dhoni stayed firm on the wickets and added 63 runs off 31 balls including five fours and four sixes.
Chennai also displayed a strong bowling attack and dismissed the opposition’s openers in short successions. However, middle order including Pathan (44) and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Venugopal-Rao-c2752 (30) added useful innings.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ravichandran-Ashwin-c84208 and Dwayne Bravo picked two wickets each.
"We are trying to put in place a combination for next year. At the same time, we still want to win games. Tonight, we had a chance to win the game”, said Hopes.
Hopes also asserted that the situation was under control till the 19th over but Dhoni’s effort took the game away from them.
For his marvellous efforts, Dhoni was awarded Man of the Match. The World Cup winning star has become successful in posting Chennai at the top of the table with 16 points.
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