“KKR Deserve Some Applause For Making A Game Out Of It” – MS Dhoni

The 38th match between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was a nail-biting one where MS Dhoni-led CSK registered a win in the final ball.

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and opted to bat first. After Shubman Gill’s dismissal, they quickly scored 50 runs within the powerplay. However, a late cameo from Dinesh Karthik (26 off 11) helped them put up 171 runs in their allotted 20 overs.

While chasing, Chennai Super Kings openers – Faf du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad got off to a flying start. While Moeen Ali contributed well, it was Ravindra Jadeja’s quick cameo of 8-ball 22 that changed the fate of the game and they eventually won the game in the final ball as well.

After the win, Ravindra Jadeja said: “It is difficult. After you have played five-day cricket and then to come to white-ball cricket, I was working on my bat swing. I wanted to repeat whatever I was doing. The runs in the second-last over turned out to be the match-winning over for us. But Rutu and Faf gave us a good start. You need to be collective as a unit, whether with bat or ball. I was just backing my strength. He was bowling with fine leg and square leg up. I thought he would bowl full outside off, and slow short ball. I thought he would give one ball up, and luckily I connected well.”

MS Dhoni, after winning the game, said: “It’s a nice victory to have. At times you play good cricket and you lose. It is enjoyable when you don’t do so well and still win. It was good cricket from both sides, and a pleasure for the spectators. We bowled well in patches. It’s not easy for the fast bowlers. We tried to give them short spells. 170 was a par score, I felt. When Jadeja was bowling, it was coming on and not stopping. The way we started, KKR deserve some applause for making a game out of it. We were also worried about how the wicket will be. When you keep playing on a wicket, groundsmen sometimes water it more and leave some more grass. [On six wins in a row in UAE] The important thing was to make the most of what we had learnt and to come back stronger.”

Ruturaj Gaikwad said: “[On opening with Faf] The opening stand is always crucial. We managed to do it today. If one of us had stayed till 12th or 13th over, it would have prevented this game from coming closer. The senior players are used to these conditions and situations. If this had been a Super Over, I might have needed to bat, so I was really nervous around the last ball. After every game that we win, we do have celebrations.”

Eoin Morgan, after losing the game, said: “Both sides batted well. Both bowled really well. Can’t fault anything from our side. The second half of the tournament has been a lot of positives for our side. We just have to give ourselves the best chance. [On Prasidh for the 19th over] Sunil takes the responsibility. I hope Dre [Russell] is ok. The whole tournament has an abundance of top-class international circketers. Some of the local Indian guys haven’t even been capped yet. When Jadeja plays like that, similar to Sam Curran for England, I don’t think there’s a lot to do. [On holding back Varun Chakravarthy] All about matchups. Your bowlers need to bowl well enough to do that.”

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