Wake-up call, says Dhoni after Rajasthan Royals pummels CSK

After a string of easy wins, Chennai Super Kings suffered a crushing defeat when Rajasthan Royals chased down 190 in just 17.3 overs, but the franchise captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not exactly worried. But he says it’s certainly a wake-up call since such things could happen in a knock-out game as well.

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CSK has already been qualified for play-offs, and Rajasthan is still uncertain.

“It’s important to forget but also learn from this game, because there is no point learning if this happens in a playoff match. We could have used the dimensions better in terms of setting fields too,” he said after sensational knocks by Yashasvi Jasiwal (50 off 21 balls)  and Shivam Dube (64 not out off 42 balls) pummelled CSK, which tops the table.

Dhoni said the dew set in during the second half helped Rajasthan Royals chase down a target of 190 which he believed was good enough on this track.

Explaining the loss, Dhoni said, “A bad toss to lose. 190 was a good score, and the dew made it flat, and the ball started coming on well. You needed to bat well, and they did that, and put pressure on bowlers. They just took the game away in the first 6 overs.”

Asked what could have been a par-score, the former India captain said, in jest, “250 would have been closer to par given the way they were going. I don’t think we could’ve scored more than 190.”

Dhoni said that once they got those runs in the Powerplay, all he could have done was to take the game deep into the 16th or 17th over.

“In the first session, the ball was stopping and coming onto the bat but that cant take away anything from a brilliant hundred that Ruturaj hit. It was stopping a bit when their wrist spinners were bowling and it started coming on better later, that’s when Ruturaj capitalised really well. Often when you lose the game it can get brushed under the carpet but it was a brilliant innings,” the former India captain said.

He admitted that he missed Deepak Chahar’s bowling in this game. “Deepak was really good with the new ball in earlier games, and we did miss him, because today the bowlers were under the pump.”

Royals skipper Sanju Samson said that they are not thinking about play-off qualification but just about doing well in the next game. He also agreed with Dhoni that his openers Evin Lewis and Yashasvi Jaiswal finished the game in the Powerplay.

“Our openers finished off the game in the powerplay. Jaiswal was superb, hopefully he’ll make it big. We have been discussing Shivam in the last 2-3 games. but Mahipal did a good job in the first few games including a 40 odd from 15 balls but we thought today could be Shivam’s game.”