Chennai, April 11: Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday (April 10) made a winning return to their home venue Chepauk scoring a last-gap five-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
The match was marked by brilliant hitting by Kolkata's Andre Russel and Sam Billings of Chennai Super Kings. Russel and Billings together smashed 16 sixes and the stand out shot was the Kolkatan's 105-metre monster off Dwayne Bravo that sailed over the stadium into the streets.
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Later, Chennai skipper MS Dhoni said such shots should be allowed to carry more than six runs, in fact eight runs.
"There were a lot of sixes. I think IPL should add two runs (to the six runs that are already there) every time the ball goes out of the stadium," Dhoni said jokingly.
For the Chennai Super Kings, the biggest challenge before the game was to keep their emotions in control.
"The crowd deserved the first innings, the second innings," he said.
"Everybody has his own emotion levels, but in the dugout we like to keep faith in our batsmen or bowler in a particular time. Positive energy helps," said Dhoni.
Incredible atmosphere at the Den last night! Awesome win again @chennaiipl ; Great fun! 🙌🏼… https://t.co/lN9Nb8cszW
— Sam Billings (@sambillings) April 11, 2018
"My pulse rises too, and that's why we have a dressing room. You can't express yourself much in the dugout; I express myself in the dressing room. If you're too expressive in the field, then commentators get a lot of things to talk about," said Dhoni.
KKR captain Dinesh Karthik said it was frustrating not to defend 202 and praised Andre Russell who blasted a blistering 88.
"Look, CSK had great support and we were expecting that. Hats off to them. Frustrating not to defend 202, but well done to Andre," he said.
"These things happen in T20 cricket, so you've got to keep your chin up and move on. Basically, you need to know that you'll lose some games, so it's important to take the positives and not repeat our mistakes," he added.
A win at #Chennai infront of our fabulous home crowd, after more than a 1000 days. Calm & composed innings from @sambillings under pressure to take us over the line.
— Suresh Raina (@ImRaina) April 11, 2018
Always fun to be around @harbhajan_singh provided us with an important breakthrough early on. #CSKvKKR #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/8fcMVQKDA2
Sam Billings, whose superb knock of 56 helped CSK post a nail-biting win, said, "It was a pleasure to play in a team of legends - with Raina, Dhoni and Harbhajan."
"Mike Hussey's batting coach as well, so need to learn as much as I can from these guys. We keep options in our head, but you have to keep three different plans in place," he added.