IPL 2021: "Jadeja's spell was important" - MS Dhoni lauds his bowlers after convincing win against RCB

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni showered praise on his bowlers after beating Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by six wickets in Sharjah on Friday.

Put to bat first, Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal gave the RCB a blistering start. They added 111 runs for the first wicket in just 13.2 overs before CSK bowlers staged a brilliant comeback. Ravindra Jadeja slowed things down from one end while Dwyane Bravo picked up wickets from the other end.

RCB managed only 38 runs in the final five overs against a top-class Chennai bowling which changed the fate of the game.

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Speaking at the post-match presentation ceremony, MS Dhoni said:

"We were worried about the dew, so whenever there's chances of dew we want to bat second. They got off to a good start but after ninth over wicket slowed down. You still had to bowl tight, and Jadeja's spell was important with Padikkal batting from one end. After that Bravo, Josh, Shardul, Deepak were brilliant."

MS Dhoni also showered praise on veteran West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo, who returned with figures of 3/24, saying he is executing the plans well.

"Bravo has turned up fit - that's a very good thing. And he is executing well. I call him my brother. We always have fights over whether he should bowl the slower ball. But I told him that now everyone knows he bowls slower balls, so I told him to bowl six different balls in one over. Whenever he can, he takes up responsibilities," MS Dhoni added.

Along with Bravo, Shardul Thakur picked up two wickets while Deepak Chahar chipped in with one wicket to restrict the RCB to 156 runs in 20 overs after a blistering start from Kohli and Padikkal.

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"I felt left hand-right hand combination was important" - MS Dhoni on sending Suresh Raina down the order

Suresh Raina, who looked out of socks in the last game against Mumbai Indians (MI), was demoted in the batting order with Moeen Ali and Ambati Rayudu batting at No.3 and No.4.

MS Dhoni stressed that all the players are capable of batting in any position and he wanted to have the left-right combination going.

"Looking at the wicket, I felt left-right combo was important. We bat deep, we have a lot of left-handers, so in the back of the head its there. And I feel all of them are good enough to play in any position. That's why we went with the left-right combination, which may have pushed Raina and Rayudu down," MS Dhoni added.

The run chase was beautifully set up by Ruturaj Gaikwad and Faf du Plessis, who added 71 runs at the top. Although Chennai lost both openers on the trot, useful contributions from Moeen Ali, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina took their side home with 11 balls to spare.

With this victory, Chennai once again went top of the points table with 14 points from nine matches.