The 49th game of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 featured a clash between the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings and the five-time champions Mumbai Indians at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday, May 6.
Losing skipper Rohit Sharma said:
(What went wrong?) Everywhere I guess. Our batters didn’t put up enough runs. We had an off-day as a batting unit. (Reason behind him moving to No. 3) Just felt that was what was comfortable after losing Tilak. Thought we needed Indian bats in the middle overs but lost three in the powerplay. Piyush is bowling well, others need to rally around him. That’s what we expect, it’s a team game. But we can take a lot of learnings and take it forward. Obviously, this year it’s felt like there has been no home advantage. We need to play good cricket, next two home games are important. We need to do well to come back.
Winning skipper MS Dhoni said:
It was a very crucial game for a simple reason if you see the points table there’s a muddle. Last few games the results have not gone in our favour and so it is good to be on the winning side. I was doubtful with the decision at the toss, I wanted to bat first but the think tank thought about the rain, I was slightly outnumbered and so we went with the majority. If there is some kind of a confusion then we sit and talk about it. I felt the wicket will slow down and that was the reason behind it, and even if rain comes then the majority of the game would have been done. People who don;’t have a very clean action batters find it difficult to pick them. It is not the pace or variations, but the consistency. I would prefer him not to play red-ball cricket and play all the ICC tournaments, he would be a great asset for Sri Lanka. He was slightly lean last season and has added muscle this season.
Player of the Match Matheesha Pathirana said:
My journey with CSK started from last year, I came in as a replacement and played only two games, but this season I am playing more and I am happy. They (team management) give me a lot of confidence. This is my best bowling figures in T20 cricket and I am happy with the performance. I am a die hard fan of Cristiano Ronaldo (referring to his celebrations after picking a wicket).
