When you have quality batters in the opposition, they make you pay: LSG skipper KL Rahul on tough loss against Dhoni-led CSK

On Monday, April 3, Chennai Super Kings opened their account with a nail-biting 12-run victory over Lucknow Super Giants, making it an unforgettable return to their home. After their spinners brought them back in the chase after LSG’s wild start in a high-scoring match, CSK prevailed.

Talking about CSK’s batting –

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CSK broke the record for the most runs scored in the powerplay. After a quicksand short period in which Ruturaj Gaikwad hammered K Gowtham for three sixes in one over, CSK went from 40/0 in four overs to 79/0 in six overs. Avesh Khan conceded 17 runs in his first over. Mark Wood then delivered a costly first over after that. Ruturaj accelerated to 46 by the time the powerplay ended.

After the 10th over, CSK eased down, but they still scored a staggering 217/7 in their 20 overs. In their first game at the Chepauk since 2019, MS Dhoni blasted two consecutive sixes, much to the joy of the CSK supporters.

Here’s what KL Rahul had to say after LSG’s loss –

Not the ideal start after winning the toss. The first couple of overs it was a bit sticky and there was a bit of movement, but we did not bowl in the right areas and they got that flier. When you have quality batters in the opposition, they make you pay. Something for us to learn but the way Rutu and Conway played was brilliant. It does take time to learn what lengths to bowl on a surface, but to go for 70 odd in six overs isn’t ideal. We batted well but we didn’t capitalize the small momentum. Kyle (Mayers) is coming off good form, he was smoking them for West Indies and comes here with the same form and intent. Great to see what he’s done with the opportunity. Bishnoi is someone I’ve played with for a while, he gets wickets when things aren’t going well, puts his hand up and contains runs. Good to see different guys putting their hands up. Wouldn’t change the toss decision, we didn’t win because we didn’t capitalize the small moments. We had a good start but couldn’t press on. Not often we’ll find 4-5 guys caught on the boundary ropes, they needed to go over and will go over the next time. We’ll take that in T20 cricket, today the game didn’t go our way but this is the way we want to keep playing.