Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni didn't mince words after the three-time champions succumbed meekly to Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the 25th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on Saturday.
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Chasing RCB's 169/4, CSK were never in the hunt. And finally lost the match by 37 runs, which IS their biggest defeat in terms of runs in the Southern Derby. More so, the defeat meant that the most consistent team in the tournament's history have lost five of their first seven matches in a season for the second time only, a first in a decade.
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And Dhoni's not happy, and compared the team's plight to that of a sinking ship. After the match, the 39-year-old said that there are "too many holes in the ship and when you try to plug one there is water flowing from another."
Asked to bowl first by Kohli, CSK started strongly, claiming thee RCB wickets inside the first 11 overs. But the rival skipper changed the script with a flourishing finish. Kohli remained unbeaten on 90 off 52 balls, and was involved in a 76-run stand with Shivam Dube.
He, matter of factly, said their plans go haywire "in the last 4 overs" when they bowling, but "before that the bowlers had done a good job."
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Talking about the chase, he said: "Batting has been bit of a worry and today also it was evident. We need to do something about it. We can't just keep turning up... It's almost the same thing that is happening. Maybe, the individuals are different but I think we are better off playing the other way round -- play the big shots, and even if you get out it is fine because we can't leave too many after the 15th or 16th over that just puts too much pressure on the lower order batsmen."
Dhoni himself holed out while going after Yuzvendra Chahal, three balls after hitting a six. Then a flurry of wickets follows to hand RCB a comfortable win. The stand-out batsmen were Ambati Rayudu (42 off 40) and Narayan Jagadeesan (33 off 28).
"Our batting has lacked a bit of, you can say, power more from the 6th over onwards, individuals get tentative and no matter how much confidence you are giving them, ultimately they have to have their own plan as to how to play. We have not been able to adapt and plan for bowlers bowling from 6-14 overs," the losing skipper added.
The defeat left CSK in a precarious position. They are sixth in the table after seven matches, with two wins.
The former India captain, however, still believes that there can be a turn-around, and said that they need to get their "act together and "everything needs to work in the same game to get a result. Once we get a result in our favour it will be slightly different for us."
