The RCB camp was distraught after the loss against CSK, as it was a game that they should have ideally won. But a brilliant partnership between Dhoni and Rayudu meant that CSK won the game with a few balls to spare.
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AB de Villiers had set the ball rolling for RCB, scoring 68 of 30 balls, but his countryman, Imran Tahir got the better of him, hence restricting RCB to just 205, when they actually looked set for something in the range of 230.
CSK were up against it all through their chase, but when Dhoni decides to take a chase deep and succeeds, he most often that not comes out on top.
And that is exactly what transpired at the Chinnaswamy that night, as Dhoni took CSK home with utmost ease in the end, wielding that magical willow and hitting sixes for fun.
AB de Villiers in his column for TOI what the mood in the RCB camp was after the defeat and how Virat Kohli and Daniel Vettori tried to lighten up the mood in the camp.
“For all our early season confidence, for all our growing belief in each other… amid the grim silence, the disbelief, the glazed staring, this defeat felt truly devastating-…Dan Vettori, our coach, spoke, and spoke well. Virat Kohli then identified what had gone right and what went wrong. Their message was clear: we needed to improve in certain areas, we needed to move on and prepare for the visit of KKR on Sunday. Yet, still, we all sat silent, still stunned by what had happened,” AB de Villiers wrote.
ABD was stunned to see MS Dhoni so calm in such a high pressure situation and credited him with the win.
“The game was essentially won. After reaching 205 on a slow pitch, and then reducing CSK to 74 for 4 in the ninth over, we seemed within touching distance of a second successive win at home, another step in the right direction, a strong move up the table. MS Dhoni deserves immense credit for what followed; his masterclass innings, of 70 runs from 34 balls including seven 6s, turned the game on its head, led his team to an amazing victory, stilled the Chinnaswamy roar and left our changing room stunned,” the South African said.
In the end ABD revealed how Quinton de Kock managed to crack a small joke and put a smile on everyone’s face.
“Quinton de Kock somehow found the words. ‘Come on, boys’ he suddenly declared. ‘Don’t be bitter, just be better.’ In an instant, the gloom lifted… the ice was broken… and everybody laughed,” he concluded.
