Chennai Super Kings (CSK) stormed into the Indian Premier League (IPL) final for the seventh time on Tuesday after a thrilling last-over win over SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni credited his team’s lower order who played a key role towards the end of the match.
“Credit to the CSK lower order. They bat a long way down and they kept us under pressure. It is rough being on the other side of close ones, but we have been on the right side a number of times this year. It is important that we learn from this experience,” he said.
In the first qualifier of 2018 season, Chennai pulled off a last-over thriller against the Kane Williamson-led Hyderabad, thanks to an incredible unbeaten 67-run knock by opener Faf du Plessis.
“We’ve been a very good team and it reflects when it comes to the IPL. It reflects the dressing room atmosphere we’ve been able to create. It’s not possible without that,” Dhoni said after the match.
“Credit goes to management, support staff and players. Even if one of them is lacking you can’t have a good dressing room atmosphere. If the atmosphere is not great, it becomes difficult to perform,” he added.
In the match which went down the wire, the yellow brigade were once reeling at 92/7 losing all of their key batsmen.
“Good to win games like this. But what’s important is to learn out of this game. It’s about constantly improving.”
“This is the best combination that we have got. And right from the first game we’ve used different bowlers in different ways to find out who is the best bowler at the end,” Dhoni said, about constantly reshuffling his team combination.