MS Dhoni explains the difference between the Chennai and Pune crowd

MS Dhoni was happy with CSK’s performance today, as Shane Watson’s century drove CSK towards a handsome victory. Rajasthan were very poor in all three departments, as their abysmal fielding was one of the downfalls of their night.

Watson was given multiple reprieves tonight, as he gladly accepted them and scored his third IPL century, and his first against Rajasthan.

Dhoni seemed very happy, and was confident that their new home ground in Pune will slowly become a fortress by the end of the season.

This is what Dhoni had to say about the Pune crowd

“Change of venue – to be frank – CSK wasn’t there for couple of years. I played for Pune. The fans supported me. It’s time to return the favour. It’s Chennai Super Kings, not Pune Super Kings. As far as the wicket is concerned, I’m not sure that it was coming on nicely, especially when the ball got old. Back of length was hard to hit.

Dhoni also spoke about his batsmen, and how the set up the game for his team,

“Batsmen made the bowlers’ life easy. Spinners had to vary their line and lengths along with the pace. It’s a league stage, it’s not like the quarters or semis, where if you lose you’re out, so there’s not that much pressure. For CSK whenever we played in Chennai, we used to bat first a lot of times in Chennai.

“Dew is a factor here. Slowly what has happened is that people are getting comfortable either way. If wicket is good, not many teams will mind batting first or second.”

While you can never recreate the Chepauk atmosphere, with performances such as this, there is no doubt that Pune will surely warm up and embrace the yellow army in no time.