I call Bravo my brother and we always have fights over slower ball, reveals MS Dhoni

New Delhi: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni was elated after the team in yellow chased the target of 156 in 18.1 overs, defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 6 wickets in an Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

For Chennai Super Kings, Ruturaj Gaikwad and Ambati Rayudu scored innings of 38 and 32 respectively. Faf du Plessis also scored crucial innings of 31 while MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina lead the team across the victory line with winning runs. For RCB Harshal Patel scalped two wickets while Yuzvendra Chahal and Glen Maxwell returned with one wicket each.

MS Dhoni in the post-match presentation said: “We were worried about the dew and we saw that last season. They got off to a great start and after the eighth or ninth over, the pitch slowed down a bit. Jadeja’s spell was very crucial especially with the way Padikkal was batting from one end. I told Moeen that he would bowl from one end during drinks, but then I changed my mind. I decided Bravo should bowl because the more you delayed him, the more difficult it was given that he’d have to bowl four straight overs in these difficult conditions.”

“Our players have worked hard and understood their roles and responsibilities. All three grounds here are different. This one is the slowest of the lot. I felt the left-right combination here was important with the bat. We bat deep with a lot of lefties and all of them are good to bat at any position, which is why we pushed Raina and Rayudu down,” the 40-year-old pointed.

“Bravo is fit and executing them well. I call him my brother and we always have fights over whether he should bowl the slower ball. But now everyone knows that he has the slower ball, so I told him to bowl six different balls in an over,” CSK captain added.

Dwayne Bravo returned with a figure of 3-24 for CSK against RCB and was adjudged man of the match.

Dwayne Bravo in the post-match presentation said: “IPL is the toughest competition in the world. It works on some days and on some days it doesn’t. My pride and my love for this game keeps me going. Virat was a very important wicket and RCB are a big side.”

“I just wanted to keep it simple. As I said, preparation is the key for me. I practice in the nets, keep myself healthy and use my experience to come up in these situations. Experience will always get us through in this franchise. The message from the coach in the dressing room is that we might not always be the quickest, but we will get the job done,” the West Indian added.

After this victory, CSK returns to the top of the table ahead of Delhi Capitals (DC) on Net Run Rate (NRR). For RCB, things are getting a tad trickier, and they will need to get back to winnings ways soon, as the rest of the pack are catching up on them.