Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said the third-wicket partnership between Suresh Raina and S Badrinath provided him with the "perfect platform" to launch the final assault in their Champions League T20 match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, here today.
"We got off to a good start and it was important to build on that. A total of 180+ was easily chased here so considering that the perfect platform we got from Badrinath and Raina, I looked to hit hard and it worked," said Dhoni at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Raina smashed a quickfire 57-ball 84 while Dhoni produced a belligerent unbeaten knock of 63 as Chennai Super Kings pulled off a narrow 12-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in a Group 'B' match. Chasing a daunting 203-run target, Sunrisers came close to scoring an unlikely win before settling at 190 for seven.
Raina and Badrinath added 70 runs for the third-wicket partnership in just 46 balls.
Dhoni praised his fast bowlers for outwitting opposition batsmen with subtle variations and perfection.
"The wicket was good as the game progressed. There was more dew on the field later on and the ball was coming on nicely. It was difficult for the fast bowlers to execute and it worked well for us who used variations. I think the bowlers did a good job but I feel there were situations where we could have closed the overs well, say after giving a boundary in the first few balls of the over," he said.
Dhoni expressed satisfaction with the wicket and said, "The credit goes to the pitch. As u see these days, boundaries are not very big in T20s so it was a good wicket."
Sunrisers skipper Shikhar Dhawan said losing three wickets in middle of the innings changed the complexion of their run-chase.
"The way Parthiv and I were batting, we gave a good start but we lost three wickets quickly which changed the match," he said.
