English all-rounder Sam Curran, who played a blistering six-ball cameo of 18 runs to help Chennai Super Kings (CSK) beat Mumbai Indians in the first match of this season’s Indian Premier League, has called Mahendra Singh Dhoni “a genius”.
On being asked why he was promoted up the order ahead of Dhoni, Curran revealed that it was decision taken by CSK skipper. He also talked about how they had already planned how to go about their chase in the last few overs.
“To be honest, very surprised I went in at number six but he’s (Dhoni) a genius, he obviously thought something. Great win in the end. I think the left-right combination was his plan. The 18th over from Krunal Pandya was the over we wanted to target – a six or out approach mentality. Take the risk, and if it comes off it comes off, if it doesn’t, it doesn’t,” Curran said at the post-match interview.
Dhoni, meanwhile, said that sending Ravindra Jadeja and Curran ahead of him was just a psychological step that he took to take Mumbai Indians bowlers by surprise.
“At some point, I thought we needed to give Jadeja and someone like Sam Curran a chance to go ahead in the batting order and express themselves. They still had two spinners remaining, and we tried to intimidate the bowler a bit, it was just a psychological aspect. We know we bat quite deep, and wanted them to go after the bowler. If you clear one or two sixes, then it is easier for the batsmen to follow,” the former Indian captain said.
Brilliant half-centuries from Ambati Rayudu (71) and Faf du Plessis (58 not out), added with the fiery cameo of Curran, helped CSK to edge past Mumbai in the season-opener of IPL 2020.
Chasing 163, Rayudu and Du Plessis stitched together a match-winning stand of 115 runs after CSK were reduced to 6/2 in just two overs at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. The result meant that CSK defeated Mumbai for the first time in five matches in the IPL.