IPL 2021: We couldn’t execute our plans with the ball – MS Dhoni

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni believes his bowlers failed to execute and were well off-target in their execution while defending the total of 218 runs against defending champions Mumbai Indians at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Saturday.

CSK had the match in their grasp as they had MI on the ropes at 81-3 after 10 overs. However, Kieron Pollard was able to take the away from the opposition with his blistering batting. The CSK bowlers couldn’t hit the accurate length in the fag end of the innings and Pollard took them to cleaners.

The West Indies limited-overs skipper smashed 87 runs from 34 balls as he single-handedly took his team to win and finished the ball on the last ball. The power-hitter smashed six fours and eight sixes to pull off an amazing run-chase.

Pollard reached his fifty off just 17 balls, which is the fastest of the ongoing season. The right-hander was on song and showed no mercy to the Chennai bowlers. Pollard was able to hit the ground running and he was at his absolute best.

Pollard showed his class and once again proved why he is regarded as one of the best T20 batsmen in the world.

MS Dhoni feels the catches also let the team down as Faf du Plessis dropped a sitter when Pollard was on 68 runs. Dhoni believes that the bowlers will learn a lot after taking a beating from Pollard and he is hopeful they will execute their skills better in the coming matches.

MS Dhoni said in the post-match presentation, “It was a brilliant wicket. The difference was the execution. Not being too tough on bowlers, we dropped catches at crucial intervals. The bowlers would execute better and learn from this. If you look how it went. we were very off target when it came to execution. It is important to do that. The wicket was easy to hit. In a tournament like this, you will win and lose a few close games. When you are under the pump, you learn a lot. Irrespective where we are in the points table, we take one game at a time. We hardly ever focus where we are standing on the table. That has been our good point along the way”.

Meanwhile, Chennai is still at the top of the points table as they have a good Net run rate. Chennai will next face Rajasthan Royals at the same venue on 5th of May .