Dubai, Sep 20 (UNI) England all-rounder Sam Curran, whose important cameo of 18 runs off 6 balls after being promoted in the batting order helped Chennai Super Kings beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in the IPL 2020 opener, said that even he was surprised by captain MS Dhoni's move.
Chasing the target of 163, Ravindra Jadeja got out in the 18th over, leaving CSK needing 29 off 17 deliveries against Mumbai Indians (MI) on Saturday,
MS Dhoni himself or Kedar Jadhav was expected to join Faf du Plessis in the middle after Jadeja's wicket but CSK captain sent Curran (18) instead and the 22-year-old smashed two sixes and a four in his six-ball cameo before Chennai triumphed by five wickets with four balls to spare.
Speaking to iplt20.com, Curran who batted at 6, said, 'To be honest, very surprised I went in at number six but he’s (Dhoni) a genius, he obviously thought something. Great win in the end. I think the left-right combination was his plan.
The 18th over from Krunal Pandya was the over we wanted to target - a six or out approach mentality. Take the risk, and if it comes off it comes off, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.'
Both, Jadeja and Curran played short and aggressive cameos and took CSK closer to the target. Dhoni came out to bat after Curran's wicket but only had time to play out two dot balls before Du Plessis hit the winning runs at the other end.
At the post-match presentation, Dhoni said that sending the left-handers before him had a "psychological aspect" to it, as he wanted them to take on the spinners and intimidate them.
'At some point, I thought we needed to give Jadeja and someone like Sam Curran a chance to go ahead in the batting order and express themselves. They still had two spinners remaining, and we tried to intimidate the bowler a bit, it was just a psychological aspect.
We know we bat quite deep, and wanted them to go after the bowler. If you clear one or two sixes, then it is easier for the batsmen to follow,'Dhoni explained.
Ambati Rayudu (71) and Faf du Plessis (58*) top-scored for CSK as they beat Mumbai Indians by five wickets in their opening match. They will next face Rajasthan Royals on September 22.
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