MS Dhoni explains why he refused singles to Dwayne Bravo vs RCB

MS Dhoni explains why he refused singles: Chennai Super Kings captain was vocal about his bold move of refusing singles vs RCB.

During the 39th match of the ongoing 12th season of the Indian Premier League between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings at Bengaluru, Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated Chennai Super Kings by 1 runs in a cliffhanger of a match.

Chasing a 162-run target, Chennai stumbled in the powerplay after they were reduced to 32/4 in the powerplay. It was one of the best-ever IPL innings by Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni which brought back his team back into the match.

With CSK needing 26 runs to win in the last over, the advantage was still with the hosts. Having said that, Dhoni tearing apart RCB fast bowler Umesh Yadav saw CSK needing two runs off one ball. It was a brilliant effort from RCB wicket-keeper Parthiv Patel to run-out Shardul Thakur (0) on the last ball to secure a win.

Speaking during the post-match press conference, Dhoni opened up on how restricting Royal Challengers to 161/7 in 20 overs and why he refused as many as three singles to Dwayne Bravo in the penultimate over.

“We did really well to restrict RCB to below par. I think it was more of a calculation mistake that we lost wickets early on. T20 is all about taking risks, but you can still calculate. I think it was still difficult at death if you bowl that back of the length.

“It was slightly spongy, it wasn’t coming on to the bat [for the new batsman in Bravo]. A lot of boundaries were needed, right now you can calculate, one run there, and two runs there and we just lost by one run. But you can also say we missed some boundaries,” Dhoni was quoted as saying.

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