“What really let us down was batsmanship”: MS Dhoni blames batters for loss vs RCB in IPL 2022

MS Dhoni blames batters as Chennai Super Kings were handed their seventh defeat in the Indian Premier League 2022 post ten matches.

During the 49th match of the ongoing 15th season of the Indian Premier League at the MCA Stadium in Pune, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by 13 runs in what was a do-or-die encounter for the latter.

With seven losses from ten matches, the MS Dhoni-led side would not only have to now win all their remaining league matches, but also have to depend on other teams’ results to go their way throughout the end of the league stage.

RCB, on the other hand, can breathe a bit easy as they end their three-match losing streak to collect the ever important two points, as they now move at the fourth spot in the points table with six wins from eleven matches.

En route the target of 174, CSK got off to a brilliant start as their opening duo of Devon Conway (56 off 37) and Ruturaj Gaikwad (28 off 23) posted a 54-run stand off 40 deliveries.

Despite losing a couple of more wickets post Gaikwad’s dismissal in the seventh Over, the equation was well under their control, with 65 runs required off the final six Overs.

However, with Conway getting Out on the very first ball of the 15th Over, the ‘Yellow Army’ just couldn’t get going with Moeen Ali (34 off 27) leaving it too late to accelerate, despite wickets in hand.

MS Dhoni blames batters for CSK loss versus RCB

With the equation reading 39 runs required off the final two Overs, it was never going to be easy despite MS Dhoni (2 off 3) still at the crease.

Ultimately, all the world’s best finisher could do was to pull the delivery bowled by Josh Hazlewood (4-0-19-1) straight down the throat of fielder stationed at the deep mid-wicket fence to put curtains on the last glimmer of hope.

Directing at the middle-order batting, MS Dhoni, during the post-match interview, blamed it on the batsmenship which eventually let the team down, despite a decent enough start upfront.

Stressing on the need to curb instincts and focus more on calculations while chasing, Dhoni also rued about the shot selection by his batters, which cost their wickets at regular intervals.

“We did well to restrict them to 170-odd runs. I felt in the later half it (the surface) could be better and we had to get off to a good start, everything was up to the mark and what let us down was the batsmanship. When you are chasing you know what is required and at times you have to curb your instinct and see what really the situation is demanding rather than playing your shots. The shot selection could have been better towards the end,” exclaimed MS Dhoni as RCB defeat CSK for the first time since the 2020 edition of the IPL.