Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni has called on his batsmen to improve their decision-making following his side’s six-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in the first Qualifier of the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL).
CSK were able to muster just 131-4 on a spinning track after Dhoni elected to bat first but it proved to be no challenge for Mumbai who scaled the target with nine balls to spare.
Although Chennai still have the luxury of a second Qualifier to try and make it to the final, Dhoni has urged his batsmen to improve.
“At home, we had to assess the conditions quickly, we have played six to seven games on this pitch and should have read the pitch better, that’s the home advantage,” the CSK skipper lamented after the game.
“We needed to know how the pitch behaves, would it be tacky? Is the ball coming on or not, those were the things we didn’t do well today. I think the batting needs to get better. These are the best batsmen we have got and it looks like we are batting well, but at times, but in different games, they pull off shots that shouldn’t be played.
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“These are the players who we have banked on, they have the experience and they should know to assess the conditions better, hopefully, we will do well in the next game.”
For finalists Mumbai, it was the third win of the campaign over Chennai with two of those victories now coming at the Chepauk stadium. Having taken one step closer to a record fourth IPL title, skipper Rohit Sharma stressed on the excellent balance in the side as the reason for their fine run.
“We’ve got a balanced squad,” Rohit stated.
“Whatever the conditions are, we’ve got the squad for them. We have the balance we need on any kind of pitch. Even the batters are confident in what they want to execute.
“That’s probably one of the reasons we’ve had some success in Chennai because we play the conditions well and understand the conditions well.”
Having failed to take advantage of home conditions, Chennai will now move on to Vizag where they will take on the loser of the Eliminator in the second Qualifier on May 10.
The winner of that clash will face Mumbai Indians in the final at Hyderabad on May 12.
