MS Dhoni applauds Dwayne Smith's effort in win against Mumbai Indians

Dwayne Smith

After yesterday’s last over win against MI, CSK captain MS Dhoni applauded the effort of his in-form opener Dwayne Smith. In a stiff chase of 158, Smith ensured that the team got off to a flyer

Smith played a crucial innings of 58 runs off 51 balls, with 3 sixes. He added 63 runs with Faf Du Plessis for the third wicket, which ensured that CSK built the innings well. This provided a platform to Dhoni to chase down the target comfortably who finished the match in the last over with two smashing hits to the boundary.

“Smith batted more patiently than usual, recognising his strong areas, and capitalising on them. He set up the run chase for us,” Dhoni said after the match.

Commenting on the pitch, Dhoni felt Mumbai made a tactical error. “It’s a fantastic pitch to bat on, but the ball stopped a bit early on and became easier for CSK with the dew. I think Mumbai misread the wicket in playing only one spinner.”

Smith found the going hard against Praveen Kumar and co. at first, but made a good comeback to strike an important half-century. “I’m just trying to stay as consistent as I can. I thought they bowled very well upfront, especially Harbhajan Singh, just had to stay out there and get as much as I could.”