IPL nuggets: Pissed off Dhoni warns his bowlers, threatens to quit

It was a happy homecoming for CSK as they beat Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants by 12 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Monday.

In the high-scoring match, CSK notched 217/7 in 20 overs.

LSG, despite a good start, managed only 205/7 runs in 20 overs.

However, the big talking point after the match was the carelessness of the CSK bowlers.

Though CSK won, their bowlers were guilty of conceding too many extras – 18 (leg-byes – 2, wides – 13, no balls – 3).

That’s the equivalent of bowling an extra 16 deliveries or 2.4 overs, in a T20 match!

In CSK’s first match too, against Gujarat Titans, the bowlers conceded 12 extras (lb 6, w 4, nb 2).

No wonder, CSK captain MS Dhoni was frustrated and issued a huge warning for his bowlers.

“Fast bowling we need to slightly improve. Need to bowl according to the conditions.”

“What is important is to keep an eye as to what the opposition bowlers are doing.”

“One more thing is they’ll have to bowl no no-balls or extra wides, or they’ll have to play under a new captain. It will be my second warning and then I’ll be off,” he said.

We don’t remember the last time Dhoni was so critical about his players!

Hopefully, the CSK bowlers will pay heed and correct themselves.

Dhoni was also surprised by the pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

“It was a terrific game, high-scoring game. All of us were thinking how the wicket will be. We had that doubt. It was a high-scoring game.”

“Overall I think it was a perfect first game that happened and it was a full house for the first game in 5 or 6 years since we’ve been here,” Dhoni said.

“I thought it will be much slower. It was a wicket where you could score runs but overall it got a bit slower. We’ll have to see how it plays over the next six games at home but hopefully we can score here. Even if it’s on the flatter side, force batters to hit over the fielders.”

Ruturaj Gaikwad was in form yet again, slamming his second successive fifty and shared 110 runs for the opening wicket with Conway (47 off 29).

Gaikwad, after his 92 in the opening game, smashed 57 off 31 with three fours and four sixes.

Conway, who hit five boundaries and two hits over the fence, gave him good support.

And then Moeen Ali returned with fine figures of 4 for 26 from his overs to help CSK restrict LSG to 205 for seven.