The game between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings turned out to be a thriller with the home side edging out by four runs despite an MS Dhoni special that scared to take away the game from their hands.
Chris Gayle struck a 33-ball 63 on his debut for KXIP as they finished with 197/7 after yet another middle-order collapse. CSK’s equation came down to 65 needed in the last 21 balls from where MSD produced a special knock. The CSK skipper scored 46 in the next 16 balls he faced to take his team to 193/5, four runs short of the Punjab total.
However, what’s more bothering for CSK than the defeat was Dhoni’s lower-back injury, which he sustained during his knock of unbeaten 79. He took the treatment from the team physio during the strategic time out, but the batsman looked in severe discomfort till the final over.
When asked about the same, Dhoni sounded positive and he felt it should be okay before the next game starts on 20th of April, which is still four days away. He went on to add that he’s now used to playing the game of cricket with injuries.
“It’s bad; how bad it is, I don’t know. God has given me the power. I don’t need to use the back a lot, the hands can do the job. But overall, we’ll assess how bad it is. It shouldn’t be too bad because I know what really happened and once you know the kind of injury it is, it becomes slightly easy to get out of it and also we have three-four days now before the next game. I’m quite used to playing with few injuries, whether it is back, fingers, elbow or something else,” said Dhoni while speaking to Isa Guha during the post-match presentation ceremony.
This is post-match presentation gold from MSD – Classic @msdhoni style #VIVOIPL #KXIPvCSK pic.twitter.com/i651cnFV9L
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 15, 2018
Dhoni Backed Ravindra Jadeja to do well
Many fans and cricket experts were unimpressed with Dhoni for sending Ravindra Jadeja up the order ahead of Dwayne Bravo, the decision which cost CSK the game. Speaking about the same, Dhoni said that he will back the all-rounder as he has played only a few games this season and he deserves to get more opportunities ahead.
“We have confidence in Jadeja because he being a left-hander is not easy for the bowlers. This is the time we need to give him the opportunity. If Jadeja can do the job of the floater that would be really good for the team as we have Raina at the top of the order. I will back him as we have not given him many opportunities,” said Dhoni.
