Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni almost pulled off another heist with the bat today in Chepaul against Rajasthan Royals (RR). From needing 54 runs off 18 balls on a tricky pitch in Chennai, Dhoni and Jadeja dragged CSK to needing 5 runs off the last ball. But Sandeep Sharma bowled a good yorker and RR claimed the win by 3 runs.
Here are 3 reasons why CSK lost the match vs RR:
Injury to Sisanda Magala made a difference of 10 runs in death overs
It seems like Magala’s finger injury flared up again when he took the catch of R Ashwin in the 15th over. He left the field and didn’t return. By then he had bowled two good overs for 14 runs.
Magala had gained a reputation of a death overs specialist this year with impressive performances in SA20 and for South Africa. But his injury today meant, Dhoni had to use young Tushar Deshpande and Akash Singh, who was making his CSK debut today, in the death overs and both the inexperienced pacers leaked runs in the death to Shimron Hetmyer. The last 3 overs from the duo went for 31 runs and that created a big difference.
Moeen Ali’s two dropped catches
Moeen Ali had quite an off day as a fielder. He dropped two catches at first slip: in the 5th over of Padikkal off Theekshana’s bowling – Padikkal was 14(11) then and went on to score 38 (26); then, in the 9th over of R Ashwin, when Ashwin faced his first ball off Jadeja. Ali also missed a chance to run-out Ashwin with a poor throw. Ashwin ended up with 30 (22).
RR spinners tangled CSK batters who left too much for a bit too late
Dhoni and Jadeja almost pulled off another stunning victory. Almost. Some poor bowling from Holder and Sandeep in the last two overs meant that CSK were alive in the chase till the last ball.
However, they perhaps left a bit too much for too late. Shivam Dube (8 off 9) and Moeen Ali (7 off 10) struggled to get going while Conway (50 off 38) was a bit too slow. Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Jadeja too didn’t start off rapidly today and were 5*(7) and 6*(7) by the end of the 17th over.
