Journalism of Courage
MS Dhoni said that the Chennai crowd deserved the show they got on Tuesday night when Chennai Super Kings played Kolkata Knight Riders. “It feels good, to come back after two years and win. The crowd deserved the first innings and the second innings,” said the CSK captain in the post-match presentation ceremony. Chennai Super Kings’ bowlers, especially Dwayne Bravo, were steamrolled by Andre Russell who smashed 88 runs off just 36 balls. His innings included 11 sixes, six of which came off fellow West Indian Dwayne Bravo. KKR set a target of 203 but CSK went on to surpass that target largely thanks to Sam Billings’ half century.
“It’s good to see Sam bat the way he batted,” said Dhoni, “Yes, we did go for runs, and Kolkata did bat well. Bowlers from both sides had a rough time, but I’m sure the crowd enjoyed.” The match had a dramatic finale with CSK needing 17 to win off the final over. Ravindra Jadeja finished it off with a six off the penultimate ball of the match when CSK needed four to pull of the win. This was their second win of the season with the first one against defending champions Mumbai Indians being an equally nerve-wracking affair. Dhoni is famous for his calm demeanor in crunch situations but he said that he does express himself in the dressing room. My pulse rises too – and that’s why we have a dressing room. I express myself in the dressing room but not in the dugout. If you’re too expressive in the field, then commentators get a lot of things to talk about. Everybody has their own emotion levels, but in the dugout, we like to keep faith in our batsmen or bowler in a particular time. Positive energy helps.”
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KKR captain Dinesh Karthik admitted that it was frustrating not being able to defend 202. “Look, CSK had great support and we were expecting that. Hats off to them. Frustrating not to defend 202, but well done to Andre (Russell). These things happen in T20 cricket, so you’ve got to keep your chin up and move on. Basically, you need to know that you’ll lose some games, so it’s important to take the positives and not repeat our mistakes,” he said.
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