‘It was an emotional moment’

Dharmasala: MS Dhoni, the skipper of Chennai Super Kings, who helped his team defeat Kings XI Punjab and bag a semi-final spot spoke to the media after the win.

Excerpts:
On whether CSK should have made the semis earlier: Of course, we should have. But at the end of the day the fact is we won. So [I’m] quite happy to be on the winning side. It was a tough thing to wait till the end. If we can perform better in the semi-finals [it will be good] - from now on it’s the knockout stage. Personally I call it the lottery stage where a player needs to click at the right time. You need individuals who rise to the occasion and give you a brilliant performance which can take the game away from the opponent. So let’s hope for the best.

On his team’s bowling not really clicking: Of course, we have been struggling. If you see, more often than not, our main bowlers have not bowled their full quota of overs. It’s not that it has happened just once. It has happened on more than one occasion that we have had to use part-timers. Suresh Raina has been doing that job. Our problem is we don’t have that many part-timers. At the same time that is one of the reasons we featured Justin Kemp in this game. He can bowl at least one over if he doesn’t do well, and more if he does do well. But at the end of the day we are struggling a bit when it comes to our bowling department. But I think our batting also [can be improved], we need to lift our game a bit. I was not in great nick, Matthew Hayden hasn’t been in great nick. I believe in a Twenty20 game, it’s not just about being in form. It’s all about just one game, a couple of balls in the middle and all of a sudden you are back in form […] Overall we need to lift our game.

On the Dharamsala stadium: It’s a beautiful stadium. We all know that. There’s no second opinion about it. It is one of the most beautiful stadiums, if not the most beautiful. I think Anurag Thakur [HPCA President], along with the office bearers and the groundsmen, has done a really good job. It’s a very pleasant atmosphere, you can say, because this time of the year if you are playing in Chennai or any other venue it’s quite hot. But it wasn’t hot, even for the 4’o clock game, so it was good to play. [It was a ] good wicket, [when] 190 runs are scored and the opponent is able to chase [the target] that means the wicket was quite good. So overall, [I’m] quite happy with the venue, the wicket and the hospitality also.

On whether Dharamsala is geared to host international games: Why not? You know, there are a few things that need to be done. The travelling and everything - they are trying their best. They have [made] arrangements [to the best of their ability]. And slowly it will get better and better, so why not? Why can’t we play an international game [here]? But it’s going to be quite tiring, if we are playing a seven ODI series, or five ODI series and it’s the last game then you can imagine going all the way to Kangra and back - it can be a bit of trouble. But you always want to take trouble for a beautiful place like this.

On whether they have any special plans for their bowling in the semis: From the beginning we have been [making efforts to see our] bowling department performs well. Out of the 14 games, we have bowled brilliantly in one or two games like against Kolkata [Knight Riders] and one or two other games. But if you talk of consistent performances, then we haven’t been consistent. We rely heavily on our batsmen to deliver. Suresh Raina has scored the most runs for us, every time he’s the person batting at No. 3. He takes the bowlers on. Badri [S Badrinath] has done well. I am hoping we perform as a team. I hope the bowlers lift their game because it’s a knockout stage. Wickets will be quite different. Frankly, I found out that it’s quite difficult to bowl in Chennai because you don’t get much movement off the wicket and there’s plenty of bounce to play good shots. More often than not even if you mis-hit a delivery you get a six for it. Overall, [it’s] a difficult venue to bowl [at]. But at the end of the day when we are touring we should be bowling better.

On the Dharmasala wicket: It was a good wicket. [There was] a lot of grass cover that had been left on the wicket. But if you leave this much grass for an international match then there are better bowlers to exploit the conditions - so you won’t see this much grass in international games. But overall, [I’m] very happy with the wicket.

On facing MI and planning for Sachin Tendulkar: Well, people have been planning against him for the past 20 years, but nothing really works. So we just hope that he commits a mistake and it works in our favour. It’s not like you can come up with something and say it’s something that will work against Sachin. And it’s not as if Sachin is the only player they have got. They have got big hitters, they have got good bowlers. Especially with the signing of new domestic players they have become a very even side. Their batting line-up is doing well, their openers are doing well, their bowlers are doing well, so they are playing good consistent cricket. But as I say, it’s the lottery stage, commit a few mistakes or bowlers bowl a few good deliveries and you can be under some sort of pressure […]

On MI getting a lot of support with the semis being held in Mumbai: Yes, of course that is expected. So you can say they will be the favourites. They will have a good amount of crowd support. But [even the] Indian cricket team [has] lost in India, so even with the crowd support you can lose. At the end of the day, you are supposed to play well on the field […] In this kind of format, the game changes very quickly.

On the emotional response to winning against KXIP: Of course, it was a very emotional moment for me because the franchise plays professional cricket. The franchise has been really nice when it comes to the amount of respect they have given to the individuals, whether they are the players or support staff and people around. We have never had any trouble with the franchise. We have a very good side at the same time, so we are at least expected to reach the semi-finals if we are playing good, consistent cricket over a period of time. That’s what IPL is all about. You have to been in the semi-finals if you are a good side. It definitely means that even though in the last two editions we haven’t been able to win the Cup, we have been part of the semi-finals - it says [we] have played good, consistent cricket. Ok, we had fitness issues throughout, we signed [Andrew] Flintoff - he got injured. We had [Jacob] Oram in the first edition, he was there for four-five games, after that he went to play for New Zealand, he got injured and he was not the same when he came back. So I think we suffered a lot because of injuries. At the start of this season, we had Justin Kemp, he got injured. Albie Morkel struggled a bit, I got injured myself after the second game. So we have been struggling with injuries and with the form of our domestic bowlers, the Indian seamers you can say [things became difficult]. It was an emotional moment. We should have been in the semi-finals before this game. I had predicted the last time we played Kings XI Punjab [that the loss] would really hurt us. And it really was hurting before the start of the game. The kind of batting they did, the way they played. At the end of the 20 overs it was very difficult to say if we could chase down the 190-odd runs or not. So it was an emotional moment. And Suresh Raina again gave us a good start, soaked up all the pressure. He and Badri [S Badrinath] batted really well. Because of the small ground and because of the high altitude, you can say, the ball travels really far, the outfield was very quick. So it was there at the back of the mind that whatever runs you may need in the last few overs, you can achieve […] Because the wicket was also good and you want [to put] the bowlers also under the same sort of pressure. Both the bowler and you are under the same amount of pressure […] There are 60 to 70 per cent chances that I may succeed - that’s what really happened in this game.

On the final over: It’s never easy. Twenty20 is not only about the pace, otherwise bowlers who bowl 150 [kmph] would have been the most consistent bowlers. I think the bowlers need to be smart and I knew that my batting strength is my power. Not [that] I am the most technically sound batsman. I knew that the bowler and I were under the same sort of pressure. I knew that if he bowls in my area I would look to hit and I was just hoping that he commits a mistake and bowls in my area more than me playing some extraordinary shot. So I think he bowled in my area thrice at least in the four-five deliveries. And it worked in our favour.

On whether playing the semis would mean less time to rest before ICC World T20: Well, of course, but you want to live in the present. I am a person who lives in the present, so I am not thinking too much about the T20 World Cup right now. But as you said, basically I get less time, which means that I would have played a serious T20 game before the first T20 World Cup game that I would be playing. So the time difference between two professional games would be very less, which would be very good for us, in a way. So there are positives, there are negatives, but I am not really surprised.

On the slowness of the wickets this year: Not really. Initially [in the] the tournament, most of the wickets were good for the batsmen and as the tournament progressed, the wickets [moved to] the slower side. Even the Chennai wicket, which is considered one of the better batting tracks we have [slowed down] - the last couple of games we played the wicket was on the slower side. More often than not you have a maximum of two wickets [prepared] for IPL. You can’t really make the whole square, so as the tournament progresses, they get slower and slower [...] I don’t think [in comparison] to the first edition the wickets have gone slower, it’s just that the wear and tear is there because we play lots and lots of games and the time gap between two games is less. The groundsmen don’t get enough time to prepare the wicket. And the conditions are also not suitable [for a good batting pitch]. It’s very hot and humid at almost all the venues, so that can be one of the reasons.