IPL 2019 | Did not expect MS Dhoni to miss the final ball, says Parthiv Patel
Parthiv Patel has stated that he did not expect MS Dhoni to miss the final delivery of the match after smashing 24 runs on first five deliveries of the final over. Dhoni single-handedly took CSK to the brink of victory, but missed out by a whisker after failing to squeeze two runs of the last ball.
Chennai Super Kings kept losing wickets at regular intervals and failed to get going in the run-chase against Royal Challengers Bangalore. MS Dhoni stuck to his guns at one end and smashed a career best 84 off 48 balls to take his side on the brik of an improbable win. From 26 needed off the final over, the equation had come down to two runs of the final delivery after Dhoni went berserk. The RCB camp sank in, but Umesh Yadav bowled a slower delivery on the off side which the CSK skipper failed to connect. Parthiv Patel, who dislodged the bails before Shardul Thakur from the non-striker's end could reach the crease, has stated that he did not expect the finisher to miss the ball.
“We honestly wanted him to hit through the off-side on the shorter side of the ground. If he had hit it on the leg-side, there were two runs because I don’t think the way he runs, there was any chance of stopping those two,” he explained, at the post-match press conference, reported PTI.
“So we wanted to bowl slower and outside the off-stump and surprisingly he missed it. I wasn’t expecting him to miss it but surprisingly he missed it,” he added.
At the end of 15 overs, CSK required 70 runs with just five wickets in hand. Parthiv felt that the total was in CSK’s reach with Dhoni at the crease, especially on Chinnaswamy's flat wicket, and shared the team’s strategy in order to tie the 37-year-old to the ground.
“Playing in Bangalore or Mumbai, you know that 70 runs in the last five overs is gettable. You need at least have 80-90 runs to get in last five overs to defend. So, we wanted to squeeze him. We wanted to bowl as many dot balls to him as possible, and put pressure on other batsmen because everybody knows how MS is. He wanted the game to go down to last three-four overs and he almost won the game,” said the 34-year-old.
Parthiv struck his second half-century of the season and was even adjudged the Man of the Match. The wicket-keeper batsman claimed that the coach’s advice has greatly helped him to improve his game.
“Before the game started, I was talking to Gary and he said ‘you don’t have worry of anything you need to choose your bowlers’ and that is exactly what I did,” expressed the Gujarat batsman.
The batsman opens the innings for RCB, and after a few changes in the start of the season, skipper Virat Kohli has been his opening partner. The southpaw, who has struck 283 runs at a strike rate of 131 this season, was delighted with his role in the Bengaluru based franchise.
“Honestly, it is great to be playing in the opening slot with Virat and AB coming in at number three. Actually, I don’t have to do much. I try to make sure that I hit couple of boundaries and try and rotate the strike,” he signed off.
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