Nagpur: Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was as calm as ever as he fronted the media after the loss to Deccan Chargers.
Excerpts:
On not playing Muttiah Muralidaran: Of course he could have, but he could not have bowled better than Ravichandran Ashwin. That’s the guy who replaced him. So you have to see the overall strength, see your bowlers and our four fast bowlers have done well and we have stayed with the combination of (Thilan) Thushara and Dougie (Bollinger) at the same time. Murali is a great bowler but he has to fit into a side, it’s not about individuals, that’s why, when we were having a chat with Harsha (Bhogle, broadcaster), there is a term called ‘best eleven’, and there is a term as you can say the ‘best combination’. Of course, an individual can be the best individual but he has to fit into the side. If other departments are not doing well, unfortunately, you have to leave him out. Because if you see the way Ashwin bowled even if Murali was bowling he could not have taken 10 wickets and the way Ashwin bowled, he really did the job for us. But it’s the other departments, you know, we could not get enough runs on the board so that’s one of the main reasons why we ended up on the losing side.
On the reason behind the loss: See, initially you know under the sun it was on the slower side and they bowled really well, they had fielders in the right place and the bowlers bowled according to the field. And as the game progressed that initially when we were bowling there was a bit of a turn, but as the game progressed, as the lights were switched on, slowly the turn disappeared. The left-arm spinner was bowling, there was hardly any turn and slightly the ball was coming on to the bat in a better way, but I still think they batted really well and they were not under really too much pressure scoring 140-odd runs, so I think not enough runs on the board, that’s what really happened.
On chances of making it to the semis: You know we’d like to win three games from here. Of course we have got a healthy run-rate now but still it’s better off to win all the three games. We have two games at home and one away game so we won’t be thinking about the two games, it is best to take one game at a time and win all three games and hopefully we will be able to do that.
On players playing too much before the World Twenty20: Last time we played and I think it will depend on the result if we go and do really well in the World Cup it will be because of IPL and if we don’t then it will be that ‘you guys were really burnt down in the IPL’. I think it’s more result-oriented and depends on what we do exactly in the World Cup and of course it is good to have practice games. You can say every team will have at least 14 games and most of the guys who were part of the Indian team they will be able to play more and more games, away games, home games different situations in different conditions. In a way it’s good but, as I said, it after all depends on what we do during that T20 World Cup.
On increasing the cap on the foreign players in a team: Four and always four. Not even one more, not even half more.
On the Nagpur heat taking a toll on the players: I did not spend as much time in the middle so it did not affect me as much [laughs]. Frankly speaking there are two types of individuals who like dry heat. This was an example of dry heat. When we play in Chennai the weather there is humid where you sweat a lot more so there are some individuals, some Australians, prefer this weather, where there is more heat but not as much sweat. There are some who prefer a little sweat so that there is no sunburn or heat-stroke. It depends on the individual but still I think it was decent, it was not as hot and, after winning the toss, we elected to bat first so at a time we had only two batsmen at the crease. So it is very difficult to say, but one thing for sure it is very hot and humid and IPL, whenever it will happen, it will be hot and humid.
On having changed the place of sitting in Chennai based on Vastu: What? Last time when we had gone inside to sit we were asked to sit on the left side and not the right. It doesn’t really matter, at the end of the day it is the team that has to do well and cricketers are very superstitious, right from the red handkerchief to the left pad going into the robes to everything. You just want to be comfortable more than anything else, at least you want to say okay oppositions, talent, everything it depends on different situations, different people. But one thing, Vastu and religious beliefs, are up to you and that you can do the most. So that’s what people are doing and I don’t think it is just our team that is doing it or part of the team doing it, I think every team does something or the other, every individual does something or the other.
On Albie Morkel’s status: He is fit, as I said, you have to see the overall combination and that’s why you know we are a bit worried about, this is the first time in the tournament that we have lost about eight-nine wickets so, you know, batting has been our strength. Unfortunately the middle order has not been clicking but still, you know, even in the worst of situations we have been able to score 140-odd runs or 135-odd runs so we are a bit worried about our bowling. You know that’s the main reason why we have been playing with Thushara and Bollinger at the same time. Because overall the strength of our bowling increases [when they play], the Indian fast bowler is part of the side [that] has not been bowling that well. They are bowling well with the new ball but when they come back with the old ball they are struggling a bit. You know Chennai is one of the flattest tracks you can get so it is difficult for them. So we have got a bit more pace with Dougie and Thushara, it’s working for us in a way. You can say in this game it never worked for us but overall, you know, the number of times we have played with them it has really worked for us.
On getting the bowling changes wrong: (Suresh) Raina had bowled three so we still needed (Sudeep) Tyagi to bowl one over and if you are thinking of being a frontline bowler and if you can’t bowl one over at least, he should’ve bowled four overs at the end of the day. He just had to bowl one over, he went for runs. Because we thought it was a wicket where you know slower deliveries and smart bowling was better off compared to fast bowling and Raina was doing the job for us but [in his] third over they really went after him and the wicket, you know, slowly it stopped spinning so it was a situation we had two big hitters, one set batsmen and a big hitter so I never wanted to take the chance. I thought maybe Tyagi, if given the chance, maybe if he bowls well this over you know we won’t be under that much a pressure but unfortunately he went for runs which always happens in cricket.
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