MS Dhoni blames bowlers for loss against RR

Jos Buttler kept his calm in the end to take RR over the line in what was a must win game for the franchise.

CSK and MS Dhoni had done all the right things in the 1st innings, making good use of the powerplay on this sluggish track and then keeping the momentum going right till the end to post a competitive total on the board.

The pitch was supposed to get slower in the 2nd innings and aid the CSK spinners, however, that didn’t quite happen in the powerplay, which helped Buttler set the tone for the chase.

Buttler then batted through, took the game deep and then managed to heave Bravo over cow corner to almost seal the match for CSK.

Dhoni was rightly upset behind the stumps as all his bowlers had bowled a lot of ‘fast balls’ in the slot for RR to take advantage of it.

Dhoni was heavily critical of his bowlers in the post match presentation, saying that they just didn’t execute their plans.

All the discussions and game plans were in place, however, the CSK bowling unit let the team down once again.

“I think it is the bowling. We had to bowl one particular length and the bowlers were instructed on what they need to bowl and where they need to bowl. That back of the length was a difficult one to hit. We at least got hit 4-5 boundaries off full length. What really happens is once you are told what to bowl, you need to be bowling to that area. They need to commit and execute. It is not the planning but the execution that goes haywire. That was a par score or a par plus score. I think the bowlers let us down to some extent. Looking at the XI that we have on the field, we did well in the field. We can say we can get better, but with the players we have, this is the best we can get. It is important to start delivering when it comes to the planning part. You just don’t want to qualify into the knockout stages, you have to win games. You also need to adjust to what length to bowl and how to bowl.” Dhoni said.

RR are still in the hunt for a playoff spot and CSK are looking for that shift in momentum that could take them to the playoffs.