Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, April 4: Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni delivered a severe warning to his pacers. Dhoni warned to replace the CSK pacers’ captain if they continued to bowl no-balls and wides, after a tense victory against Lucknow Super Giants by a score of 12-runs on Monday at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.
Particularly, Deepak Chahar (0/55) and Tushar Deshpande (2/45) bowled three wides and two no-balls to let Dhoni down after replacing Ambati Rayudu as the impact player. Chahar, Deshpande, and Ben Stokes’ subpar bowling (1-0-18-0) didn’t assist CSK’s cause since they allowed runs to be scored during the powerplay while LSG’s hitters put up a potent riposte in chase of 218.
Yet on Monday, in their first home game of the 2017 IPL, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Devon Conway, and Moeen Ali led Chennai Super Kings to a 12-run victory against Lucknow Super Giants at their bastion, the M A Chidambaram stadium. After CSK recorded a dominant 217 for 7 after being put in to bat, Gaikwad smashed his second consecutive fifty and partnered with Conway (47 off 29) to put up a 110-run opening stand.
“It was a terrific game, a high-scoring game. All of us were thinking how the wicket will be. We had that doubt. It was a high-scoring game. Overall I think it was a perfect first game that happened and it was a full house for the first game in 5 or 6 years since we’ve been here. I thought it would be much slower,” said Dhoni at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Dhoni said that CSK bowled too many excess deliveries in their first home game since 2019. He also noted that his team’s pacers needed to improve and bowl to the circumstances.
“It was a wicket where you could score runs but overall it got a bit slower. We’ll have to see how it plays over the next six games at home but hopefully we can score here. It’s the fast bowling that will need to improve slightly and bowl according to the conditions,” Dhoni added.
“Even if it’s on the flatter side, force batters to hit over the fielders. They’ll have to bowl no no balls and less wides. We are bowling too many extra deliveries and need to cut them out otherwise they’ll be playing under a new captain,” he further added.
