CHENNAI: Chennai Super Kings might have won their first home match in nearly four years against Lucknow Super Giants at Chepauk on Monday but their pacers looked out of sorts during the outing. Their four fast bowlers conceded 142 out of 205 runs scored by the Lucknow franchise. Those runs included 13 wides and three no-balls.
Even skipper MS Dhoni admitted the fact and said, ‘’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 to the fielders. They’ll have to bowl no no-balls and lesser wides. We are bowling too many extra deliveries and need to cut them out otherwise they’ll be playing under a new captain.’’
Deepak Chahar, leader of CSK’S pace attack, had a tough day as he gave away 55 runs from his quota of four overs without any success. It may be recalled Deepak was out of action for over eight months last year due to a stress fracture and a grade 3 tear in his quad. CSK had bought him for `14 crore in 2022 but injuries forced him out of the last year’s edition.
“It’s been good (bowling after recovering from injury), but the last match (Lucknow) was not up to the mark. It was a batting track, fast bowlers went for runs, and spinners did well in both innings. I was able to execute my plans, it was pretty good planning, can be wrong, but as a bowler what you do is plan and try to execute. Well runs and wickets are not in your control,’’ said Chahar.
Offie Moeen Ali claimed 4/26 from his four overs helping CSK secure a 12-run win. The surface at the MA Chidambaram Stadium aids spinners in general but Chahar said the wicket on Monday was good for batting. “It was a good batting track on Monday, spinners bowled well obviously, when one side is a bigger boundary it’s difficult for a batter to hit with the new ball. It’s easy as the ball comes onto the bat nicely. We played the entire season in 2019 and after that, we haven’t played on such wickets and even the practice wickets we played on were not like this, the wickets were helpful with a little more moisture.’’
The 30-year-old bowler also informed that he is practising a lot to bowl in death overs. “I’ve done well for CSK whenever I have bowled in the 18th, 19th and 20th overs. Before this, my economy was under 8 when I bowled at death. In powerplays, you bowl with a new ball and have only two fielders outside, whereas in the slog overs, you bowl with the old ball and have five fielders outside. For me it’s good I take it as a challenge and I also practice a lot. Earlier I didn’t bowl much because we had more options to bowl at the death. I’ve many variations yorker, knuckleball, slow bouncer, leg-cutter, wide-yorker, off-cutter, you decide according to the batter and the pitch.’’
Talking on inputs from the Chennai skipper while bowling, Chahar said, “With Dhoni, it’s different. First, he will see if the bowler is willing to take responsibility, If he feels the bowler is willing to take responsibility he will let you decide the field. If he finds that the bowler is confused, he will set the field. In 2018 when I first came he used to tell me which end I should bowl from, but now since I’m a better judge of my bowling, he (MSD) will step in only when he feels the bowler is slightly confused.’’
He admitted it was difficult to make a comeback especially, after a long layoff of eight months. “Mentally it’s very tough. It takes a long time to recover from. When you start playing it takes time to get back to your best so it takes time mentally and physically,’’ he said.