IPL 2021: Told my teammates to respect the opposition, be humble – MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni is known for his astute captaincy. Dhoni’s message to his players after they posted a gargantuan score of 220 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Wednesday was clear – respect the opposition and be humble. The talisman wicket-keeper batsman stated that if they have scored the runs, the opposition can also do the same.

Chennai was asked to bat first by KKR skipper Eoin Morgan at the featherbed of Wankhede Stadium. CSK, who haven’t been getting solid starts from their openers, finally got an ideal start as Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis added 115 runs for the opening alliance inside the 13 overs. Gaikwad scored 64 whereas Faf smashed an unbeaten knock of 95 runs.

Moeen Ali and MS Dhoni also added the finishing touches with little cameos. On the other hand, KKR got off to a torrid start as they lost five wickets inside the powerplay overs for 31 runs. However, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell, and Pat Cummins were able to keep their team in the contest with their blistering hitting.

KKR was able to reach 202 and lost only by 18 runs. In fact, Cummins gave a glimmer of hope to his team as he smashed 66 runs from 34 balls and even took 30 runs from one of Sam Curran’s over.

MS Dhoni said in the post-match presentation, “Quite easy in a game like this. From the 16th over onwards the contest was between the fast bowler and the batsman. You can’t do too much. Can’t put a different field. It’s about you vs me. The side that has won is a side that has executed slightly better. But if they would’ve had more wickets, could’ve been different. Have seen enough in cricket, always like to be humble. There’s no good reason if you have scored, the opposition can’t score. My lines to the players were that we have got good runs on the board but let’s be humble. You don’t want to take too many early”.

On the other hand, Dhoni feels only Ravindra Jadeja could have put the breaks on the scoring rate as it was turning a bit. Dhoni also heaped praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad, who finally delivered after three flop innings. Dhoni added that the youngster was not rattled mentally, which was important.

Dhoni added, “The only option was Jadeja. It was turning, was a bit dry. The batting has been really good. Rutu is somebody who has shown his class in the last IPL. You always need to assess where he is mentally. Once when he was off guard, I just asked him how are you feeling today. When you put a question like that, you wait for the reactions, you see what’s in his eyes. There was enough in his reactions to suggest he wasn’t rattled. That’s what I’ve been doing all my life (applying psychology) but in a good way”.

CSK will next play RCB at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on 25th April.