Still waiting for MS Dhoni to hit my slower balls out of the ground: Dwayne Bravo

Dwayne Bravo

Indian captain MS Dhoni had a difficult time trying to slog Dwayne Bravo during the death overs in the second of the 5-match One Day International (ODI) series against West Indies, at Delhi. While the visitors eventually lost the match by 48 runs – courtesy of a dramatic collapse during the latter stage of the innings where they lost their last 8 wickets for 45 runs, they looked cruising towards an easy win at one point, thanks to some very tight bowling at the death that gave themselves an achievable target.

Bravo and Dhoni, who play together for Chennai Super Kings, were involved in a good-natured banter on the field with frequent stares from the bowler after getting the better of his counterpart.

Dhoni, who ended up scoring 51* off 40 balls to give his bowlers a competitive score of 263 to defend, was able to take only 12 runs off the 11 balls that he faced of the fast bowling all-rounder, who kept on out-foxing him with his variations: a clear indication of who won the battle.

Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, Bravo, on what was going on between them, said: "Thought at one point we had it in the bag. Give credit to India. Jaddu. Mahi and the boys put pressure on us. Very small ground, we batted well upfront. Losing wickets at crucial times, lost our way in the middle. Definitely have to work on that.”

“At CSK he (Dhoni) says he always hit my slower balls out of the ground. So I am still waiting."

Dhoni, on the other hand, felt that the fall of wickets at consistent intervals meant he had to delay the big hitting. He said: "Quite difficult (to get 263), but quite a few batsmen got off to a decent start (and got out), we lost two wickets close to the 40th over. That was very crucial. We were short by 20 runs because of that.”

One of the important reasons for Chennai Super Kings’ continued success is the player relationships that they have been able to create, and it was evident yesterday when the two players, despite being involved in an intense battle of trying to prove who is the better of the two, were able to take the face-off in the right spirit.