Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant called out for the toss in his first IPL match as captain with MS Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings as the rival was a special sentiment, calling the former Indian captain a ‘go-to man’ .
He said, ‘It was the first match of the IPL and the toss against MS was very special. I have always learned a lot from them. If I have a problem, I go to him. He has become my man. Pant said DC beat CSK by seven wickets at the Wankhede Stadium.
Pant credited bowlers Avesh Khan and Tom Curren in the absence of Eric Narje and Kagiso Rabada.
“It always feels good to win in the end. In the middle phase, I was under some pressure. But Avesh and Tom (Curren) did well in between to restrict them to 188, ”he said.
“We were wondering what we would do without Nataraj and Rabada and I felt what we had to do with those options. No, there was no effort for NRR as it is still the early stage in the tournament. Prithvi and Shikhar performed well for us in Powerplay. He kept it simple and played some good cricket shots.”
Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni acknowledged the lack of hanging by his bowlers at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. CSK posted 188 for 7 but DC homered in eight balls, Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan hit half-centuries. CSK pacers especially bowled a lot of balls, conceding 65 runs in the power play.
"MS Dhoni is my go-to man," @RishabhPant17 #VIVOIPL | @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/DBZ9F3j5Tx
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In the post match presentation, he said, “A lot depends on dew and that factor plays in our mind from the beginning.” “That’s why we wanted to get as many runs as possible. The batsmen did a good job to reach 188, as it was applicable until the dew settled 40 to 50 minutes later. We could have bowled a little better, if It was quite fair if the batsmen were hitting you on the field. The performance of the bowlers was poor and there were balls. But the bowlers would have learned and they will implement it in future games.
Dhoni said that dew was a factor in CSK being aggressive with the bat, and said that if the trend continues then the team will look for 200+ scores at the venue.
“You need to look further, the opposition has a half-hour at the start of 7:30, when there is very little dew and the pitch is really hard and the ball stops a bit, so we get 15-20 runs. Will need to make extra. Safe. Still you need early wickets.
“If we consistently get dew, then teams will have to look for 200 on the pitch that way. His bowlers threw a fine line when he was pausing and doing a bit of seam, and both openers got really good balls that could happen in a game like this. “