Chennai Super Kings defeated Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs in their second IPL 2023 game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai. While CSK managed to defeat LSG, MS Dhoni wasn’t impressed with his young pace bowlers as they conceded too many wides and no-balls making things tougher for their side.
CSK conceded 18 extras against the KL Rahul-led side. They bowled 13 wides and 3 no-balls which proved to be costly for them. The LSG batters made sure to capitalize the three free hits they got. Most of these extras were bowled by young pacers Tushar Deshpande and Rajvardhan Hangargekar.
MS Dhoni certainly looked unimpressed with his bowlers bowling so many extras despite his side going on to win the game. He warned the CSK bowlers that they might have to play under a new captain if they continue to bowl wides and no-balls.
“Fast bowling we need to slightly improve. Need to bowl according to the conditions. What is important is to keep an eye as to what the opposition bowlers are doing,” MS Dhoni said in the post-match presentation ceremony.
“One more thing is they’ll have to bowl no no-balls or extra wides. Need to cut them out otherwise they’ll be playing under a new captain. It will be my second warning and then I’ll be off,” the CSK skipper further added.
#CSK bowlers today bowled 13 wides and 3 no balls against #LSG and Captain @msdhoni, in his inimitable style, had this to say. 😁😆#TATAIPL | #CSKvLSG pic.twitter.com/p6xRqaZCiK
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 3, 2023
It was the perfect first game that could happen: MS Dhoni
“All of us were thinking how the wicket would be. It was the perfect first game that could happen. I thought it would be much slower. But it was a wicket where you could score runs. I was quite surprised with the wicket. But we’ll have to see if we can produce a wicket like this game after game,” MS Dhoni discussed about the Chepauk wicket.
Talking about the game, Chennai Super Kings got off to a flying start courtesy of their opening pair. Both Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway came all guns blazing against a decent LSG bowling lineup. Gaikwad scored a 31-ball 57 while Conway scored 47 runs off 29 balls.
MS Dhoni himself came in to bat in the 20th over and smashed back-to-back sixes against Mark Wood and helping his side post a mammoth total of 217-7. LSG opener Kyle Mayers smashed a 22-ball 53 but CSK spinners brought them back into the game as LSG eventually fell short by 12 runs. Moeen Ali was the pick of the bowlers for CSK as he scalped four crucial wickets.