The last five over of T20 game needed just 45 runs to win the game with 6 wickets in their hand. The match seemed to be in hands of KKR when Yusuf Pathan and Ryan ten Doeschate were on crease.
However, Captain MS Dhoni had his power Dwyane Bravo in his hand. The all rounder brought up his talents together simultaneously making Pathan go back to the pavilion. The same thing was repeated in the 18th over. Bravo came up for bowling for the last time at his 17 over against the opponents. As Bravo bowled 3 people all at once Doeschate's boom of 14 runs made no difference for KKR.
It wasn't for the first time when CSK stole their victory from the opponents.
In a chat with iplt20.com, Bravo just couldn’t stop smiling. And why should he? He had just bowled CSK to a remarkable two-run win with bowling figures of 3-0-22-3. He revealed the emotions and thoughts behind the way the game panned out, and disclosed MS Dhoni’s magical words during the innings break that motivated CSK to defend a total of 134.
What a nail-biter it was!
Yes, it was. It is good to play games like this and come on top. We didn’t bat properly and were way below our potential. But as a team we showed that with runs on the board, no matter how few, anything can be possible. We are led by one of the best captains in the world and he always keeps encouraging us all. That’s the thing with CSK – we believe we can win from any situation.
No matter what the situation, CSK never seem to panic!
No, we don’t. And that is all because we have a very level-headed captain and coach. In our team we have four international captains and that helps too. We have been in such positions before and we know how to get ourselves out of it. It is good to not play our best and still win the game. It is a good sign for us.
What did the captain tell the team during the break?
What he said was very, very important. He said, ‘on this surface 180 can be a not so very good score but 135 can be a very good one. It is up to us how we defend it’. That made a lot of sense. We expected them to come hard at us in the first six overs and getting that early wicket (of Gautam Gambhir) was the most important thing. At no point did we feel like we were going to win easily because they bat really deep and have some big-hitters lower down the order. But the boundary on one side here is very big and it is not a wicket where you can come in and blast it around.
CSK’s fielding was incredible today. Was there a specific talk around it during the break, because when you are defending a small total, you need the fielding to be your fifth or sixth bowler?
Yes, that was another talk. With the kind of fielders we have, if we could save 10-15 extra runs it is going to be very crucial in the end. When we have guys like McCullum, Smith, Faf, Raina and Jadeja in the field, we can make that difference in the field to win matches.
You forgot to mention Dwayne Bravo in that list. Talk me through that catch to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav. What went on in your mind as you ran for the ball? Weren’t you wary of colliding with Faf there?
I was just trying to run as quickly as I could, to get as close to the ball as I could, because I knew there was no way the ball was going to reach me. When I got there, I just bent my head down and tried to get to it when I caught a glimpse of Faf. I realized there was no way he was going to get there, so I pounced on it. During my days with the Mumbai Indians, Jonty Rhodes used to say, ‘if you don’t go (towards the ball), you will never know’. So, I just dived and thankfully it stuck in my hand.
When Ashwin went off the field with that finger injury, was there a bit of worry given how well he was bowling?
Yes, he was bowling very well. His first over was very crucial for us – that’s where the momentum changed in our favour. He had picked a wicket each in both his overs for five runs. But after Ashwin went off, Raina bowled very well. Mahi (MS Dhoni) kept my overs at the back-end and I always back myself to bowl in the death. I know it is going to be difficult to hit my slower balls in the last few overs if I execute them properly. It worked today and I am thankful for that
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