In all praise for his bowlers and team’s fielding, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his bowlers and superb fielding won CSK the match against Pune Warriors.
"Full credit to the bowlers and I hope we continue doing well in their department in the remaining matches. Our fielding was also superb. In the last few matches, fielding let us down. But today we took even some difficult chances," Dhoni said after the match, says a report in The Indian Express.
"We have not taken wickets early on in our earlier matches. But today was different as we had a few wickets in the first six overs. That has helped us in winning the match. I thought it was important to be aggressive on the field and keep up the energy level. Hope we continue this," Dhobi added.
Meanwhile, according to a report in The Tribune, after facing three defeats and two wins, in the ongoing season of IPL, the Royal Challengers Banglore team is all set to take on Kings XI Punjab, at PCA stadium Mohali.
The Bangalore team overpowered the Pune Warriors team, in their last encounter, after giving a best performance by all the departments of the team. According to Australian left arm pacer, Dirk Nannes, the players are back in form to take the team up in the points’ table, after wnning tomorrow’s encounter.
“The team is picking up well, in terms of indivual’s performance and moreover presence of batsmen like Gayle and Tiwary, is a real morale booster for the team. After watching Gayle’s style and comfort level with this format, I am sure that the spectators will see his bat firing all over the ground, once again. ” said Dirk Nannes.
The Tribune adds that Kings XI Punjab’s domestic batsmen have been a major disappointment, and their continued dismal showing will give stand-in skipper David Hussey some food for thought. With Gilchrist out of the picture, another bother for the Kings will be who opens the innings. Paul Valthaty has been as short of runs as he has been of ideas while batting. Mandeep once again did not live upto his potential last night and Paras Dogra has not looked settled enough to contribute. It is the same set of questions as earlier that the team looks at as they head into the game.
Shaun Marsh might have to open and while he has been in relatively good touch, him moving up will weaken an already under-pressure middle-order. The bowlers are still putting up their hands and being counted, but they can’t defend under-par scores all the time.
RCB, on the other hand, will be confident coming into the game despite making a horrendous start to the IPL. Gayle decimated Pune in their last game. Saurabh Tiwary chipped in, as did AB de Villiers, and if Virat Kohli gets going as well, trouble is just a whisker away for the home team.
Meanwhile The Times Of India writes that IPL teams have been subjected to lopsided scheduling during the ongoing tournament. “When Pune take on Delhi on Saturday, it will be the third match in five days for Sourav Ganguly's men. This week they have already played Bangalore (Tuesday) and Chennai (Thursday), all away from home. This means the team will be travelling across the country the whole week. By Saturday night, when Rajasthan would have finished playing seven games, Kumar Sangakkara's team would have played only four matches in the tournament's first 18 days. The long gaps between one match and the next – there was an eight-day interregnum between their second match on April 9 against Mumbai and their third tie against Rajasthan on April 17 – seems to be one of the reasons for their overall sub-par performance,” writes the paper.