Chennai: Clearly expressing his displeasure over his bowlers conceding extra balls in the form of no balls and wides, Chennai Super KIngs (CSK) Skipper M.S.Dhoni asked them to control it failing which they will be playing under a new captain.
In the post match presentation after CSK’s 12 run win over Lucknow Super Giants at the Chepauk Stadium here last night, Dhoni, who completed 5,000 runs in IPL, said “they (the bowlers) will have to bowl no no balls and less wides.”
“We are bowling too many extra deliveries and need to cut them out otherwise they’ll be playing under a new captain”, Dhoni toldthe bowlers, sending out a clear message.
CSK, asked to bat first scored 212 for 7 and restricted Lucknow Super giants to 205 for seven, despite bowlers conceding 13 wides and three no balls. Dhoni’s two sixers in the last over (3 ball 12) turned out to be the game changer as the winning margin was 12 runs.
This was for the second time the iconic skipper has flagged this issue after he was upset over the number of extra balls conceded by the bowlers in CSK’s five wicket loss against Gujarat Titans in the pipe-opener on Friday.
On CSK’s performance and the pitch, Dhoni said “It was a terrific game, high-scoring game. All of us were thinking how the wicket will be. We had that doubt. It was a high-scoring game.”
“Overall I think it was a perfect first game that happened and it was a full house for the first game in 5 or 6 years since we’ve been here”, he said.
“I thought it will be much slower. It was a wicket where you could score runs, but overall it got a bit slower”, he added.
Dhoni said “We’ll have to see how it plays over the next six games at home but hopefully we can score here.”
“It’s the fast bowling that will need to slightly improve and bowl according to the conditions. Even if it’s on the flatter side, force batters to hit over the fielders. They’ll have to bowl no no balls and less wides. We are bowling too many extra deliveries and need to cut them out otherwise they’ll be playing under a new captain”, Dhoni said.
