Mumbai: Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper M S Dhoni's experience helped him to predict correctly the timing of the turn on the pitch. But his opposite number in Rajasthan Royals (RR) Sanju Samson, also a wicketkeeper, was shocked by the amount of turn during their Indian Premier League (IPL) match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Monday.
CSK defeated RR by 45 runs as their spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali shared five wickets.
After Jos Buttler had hit Jadeja for a six during the RR innings and the ball was replaced, Dhoni correctly predicted that the ball would turn. Soon Jadeja bowled Buttler with one that turned sharply.
Commentator and former Indian batsman Rohan Gavaskar tweeted during the innings, "When butler hit jadeja for a six and then ball was replaced, you could hear dhoni on the stump mic saying that the ball will turn because it's dry ... that's exactly what happened !! #ipl2021 #csk."
Jadeja was easily manoeuvred around till then. But the change of ball did the trick.
RR skipper Sanju was, however, quite shocked by it.
"We never expected that (turn), the dew didn't come and the ball was still turning, so it was a bit shocking to see," said Sanju while speaking at the post-match presentation.
Sanju blamed the loss of wickets in the middle overs to spinners for the loss.
"I thought it was a good score (189) to chase down but we lost too many wickets in the middle overs. Our bowlers bowled really well, they batted too deep. We gave them 10-15 runs extra," added Sanju.
Dhoni, meanwhile, said, "It was stopping a bit for spinners. There was slightly less dew than the usual."