5th April, 2012, Chennai: Defending Indian Premier League champion Chennai Super Kings lost to Mumbai Indians in the opening match of the fifth IPL season in Chennai yesterday. Mumbai’s 8 wicket win is certainly a major blow to CSK’s title dream as skipper Dhoni said that it is a rusty beginning to their title defense.
While chasing 112 to secure a win, Mumbai made 115 – 2 with nineteen balls to spare. After the match, M. S. Dhoni told that another thirty runs might have made the difference. This wicket is not a typical Chennai wicket. He further added that they began well but the team did not do well in the last few overs. CSK did well with the bowling though.
When questioned about a possible winning score, Dhoni told that it is difficult to judge seeing how Mumbai chase. If they would have scored 150-160, their approach would have been different ….possibly would have though 140-145 odd runs would have been difficult.
On the other hand, Harbhajan Singh had a great time as a captain. He told that it was nice to win the toss in this unpredictable pitch. He also added that fielding is a very important part of T20 cricket, one catch, one run out can make a difference, like they got Dhoni out, if CSK skipper would have stayed then another 30 – 40 runs, it would have been difficult on this wicket.
Richard Levi was named man of the match and he told that opening with Sachin Tendulkar was an unbelievable experience.
