Bengaluru, Oct. 18: Delhi Capitals opener Shikhar Dhawan scored a blistering century against the Chennai Super Kings, to guide the Capitals to a five-wicket win in their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
Losing to the Capitals, meant Chennai fell to their sixth loss of the season. Coach Stephen Flemings rued the missed opportunities to remove Dhawan during the game.
The opener who remained unbeaten was dropped four times by the fielders. Flemings said dropping Dhawan cost Chennai the match.
Speaking after the match, the Super Kings coach said, "We gave Shikhar Dhawan a few lives. He was playing well and we had opportunities to get him early and throughout his innings as we didn't take them.
"He played beautifully but we feel obviously dropping catches, four catches, three catches against him is far too many."
The Chennai coach added that had they removed the opener, the outcome of the match could have been different. Though Capitals lost wickets, Dhawan's innings cost Chennai the match as he kept the target within reach.
"He was playing aggressively, so they were able to stay up with the rate which was a big factor. If we could have got him early and put a little bit of pressure on their middle to lower order, the game might have been different," said the coach after the match.
CSK is enduring a tough run this season and Flemings said they will have to bounce back against the Rajasthan Royals when they meet on Monday.
"We have only got a day, boys have been working pretty hard. You do a lot of catching, put them under pressure doing catching but it does come down to grabbing key moments on the day and unfortunately we couldn't and paid a pretty heavy price," signed off the coach.