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'Rain made life difficult for Delhi bowlers'
Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels that steady drizzle resulting in a wet ball made it easier for his batsmen to initiate a successful run-chase against Delhi Daredevils during the back 10 of the innings in New Delhi.
"The rain helped us as their bowlers found it tough. But this was one of the best Delhi wickets I have seen," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation ceremony.
Dhoni picked Laxmi Ratan Shukla as one of the better bowlers in the DD team while praising his openers Dwayne Smith and Brendon McCullum.
"Shukla bowled well but Smith and McCullum were brilliant. Raina also made sure that he batted till the end."
Death bowling a concern for Dhoni
Dhoni however was not happy with his team's death bowling and felt that they could have restricted DD for a lesser score.
"We need to improve our bowling. We need a couple of fast bowlers who can bowl well in the death. We played good cricket but we gave away too many in the last two or three overs."
'Wayne Parnell was beautiful'
Daredevils skipper Kevin Pietersen also pointed out at the rain factor but did not forget to laud CSK for their professional effort.
"The wicket was quite slow before the rain came and it sort of affected our chances. But no excuses as CSK played really well. Nobody's here to blame anyone."
Pietersen was all praise for Wayne Parnell, who was the most economical among the otherwise profligate Delhi bowlers.
"I thought some of our boys played some good cricket. Wayne Parnell was beautiful."
Pietersen knows that it's an uphill task of winning atleast six of the seven games but he is still hopeful.
"We probably have to win most of our games here and I still believe our team can make the play-offs."
'Myself and McCullum kept on encouraging each other'
Man of the match Dwayne Smith said that his aim was to stay out there till the end.
"I was meant to stay out there (till the end). It was a good track for batting. Myself and McCullum kept on encouraging each other. It was a very good chase for us. It's a great team effort."