There are not many better than the great Mahendra Singh Dhoni when it comes to game awareness and that reflected in his maiden outing with the bat this IPL season, said Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming.
The margin of defeat for CSK's first loss of the season would have been bigger than 20 runs if not for Dhoni's unbeaten 37 off 16 balls at number eight.
Dhoni's cameo against the Delhi Capitals included a thundering six over extra-cover before he unleashed a one handed maximum over mid-wicket in the 20th over.
The 42-year-old, who last played for India in 2019, had undergone a knee surgery last year.
"It was beautiful, wasn't it? He has been playing incredibly well pre-season. He is coming back from quite a serious injury. His batting has been superb. it gave us a positive vibe towards the end of a tough day.
"To get within 20 (runs of the target) run rate wise is important and he knows that. The way he played was spectacular," said the former New Zealand captain at the post match press conference on Sunday.
On the first loss of the season, Fleming added: "The result today is a fair reflection of the team's play tonight. We were a little bit off tonight, we were slow at start in the first six overs of each innings. We gave away too many runs in the first six when we bowled.
"When we batted, they were very good, created pressure and used the conditions very well. The little cameos from David Warner and Rishabh Pant pushed them to a very good score (191/5)."
Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad believes that their struggle to put up runs in the initial overs proved to be the difference during their 20-run defeat against Delhi Capitals.
Gaikwad opened up about CSK's initial struggle after the game and said, "I was pretty much happy with the way they (bowlers) came back after the start (powerplay). Restricting them to 191 was a good effort. The pitch was on the better side in the first innings. Second innings there was extra seam movement and spongy bounce. I felt he (Rachin) was missing it by a big margin. We couldn't get going in the first three overs and that was the difference."
CSK slowly crawled back into the game, with Ajinkya Rahane and Daryl Mitchell's 68-run stand. However, Mukesh stood out for DC with his remarkable spell and ensured that CSK remained behind the required rate.
"At the halfway stage it was getable. There was extra seam movement and we couldn't capitalize and we were always behind. We didn't get the big over to reduce the run rate," Gaikwad added.
