Dhoni blames 'irresponsible' seniors for defeat

Cricket365
May 31, 2014

Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni expressed irritation, if not fury, at the way his side got knocked out of the Indian Premier League just before the final, saying his senior batsmen had been 'irresponsible'.

After the Kings XI Punjab set a score of 226, thanks to a century from Virender Sehwag, Chennai needed to go at 11 to the over from the outset to even get close, And they scored 100 runs in the power play, thanks to Suresh Raina.

The India batsman made 87 off just 25 balls, setting a good platform, but the middle order was unable to capitalise, with Brendon McCullum, Dwayne Smith, Faf du Plessis and David Hussey all failing. They lost by 24 runs.

A frustrated Dhoni, who made 42 not out himself, said after the defeat: "I think definitely it was something we could have achieved, the reason being Suresh [and] the way he batted.

"I think in the middle overs there was some very irresponsible cricket by some of the most experienced international cricketers, so I think definitely we need to have a look, in a game like this when the stakes are high, you can't really commit mistakes."

Dhoni went on to express regret at his side's lack of express pace, someone that could have hampered Virender Sehwag's march to a century, saying: "I think Viru pa, once he gets going hardly any bowler can stop him, and in our bowling attack also there is hardly any quick bowler who can push him onto the back foot.

"I think he batted really well, took the challenge to the spinners, dominated the spinners, never really let us get back into the game, they scored 25 runs more. The way Suresh batted, it was within our reach."

The skipper was equally unimpressed with his experienced spinners, who were tapped to all corners, with Ravi Jadeja going at 12 to the over and Ravi Ashwin for nearly the same.

Dhoni said: "Apart from that bowling department also, we need our spinners to improve a bit. Especially on good flat wickets that has been a concern for us, and again it proved in this game also.

"They way they started, definitely because I had belief in my bowling that they will definitely let them score over 200 runs. But overall they batted really well."