A step behind this time, CSK look further ahead

CSK Look Further Ahead After Playoff Exit

Marco Jansen's winning runs for Punjab Kings were a fitting metaphor for Chennai Super Kings' season – they just weren't quite there.

Despite the disappointment of missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year, MS Dhoni, in his worn-out pads, applauded his team after the match, a gesture that seemed part acknowledgement, part closure.

CSK's batting finally looked the part on Wednesday (April 30), with Sam Curran's 88 off 47 balls, including a calculated assault on Azmatullah Omarzai and Suryansh Shedge, being outstanding. His 78-run stand off 50 balls with Dewald Brevis through the middle overs was exactly the kind of passage CSK had sorely missed all season.

"It was the first time when we had put enough runs on the board, but was it a par score? I feel [it was] slightly short," Dhoni said at the post-match presentation. "I felt we could have got slightly more. That partnership between [Dewald] Brevis and Sam [Curran] was excellent. And I feel we need to take some catches because that really helps to take wickets, you can slow down the opposition. Other than that, I feel from the batting unit as a whole, I felt it was a good effort."

"Whenever he [Sam Curran] turns up, he wants to contribute, whether it's with the bat or with the ball. So, unfortunately, so far, when we tried to give him a chance the wicket was on the slower side and he found it slightly difficult. But I felt today's wicket was one of the best that we have got in the tournament when it comes to the home venue. So I feel the wicket was really good and that's the reason I felt we needed another 15 runs."

Yuzvendra Chahal turned the game with four wickets in the 19th over, including Dhoni's dismissal, followed by a hat-trick.

"Not to forget, when it's a high-scoring games, we didn't play the last four deliveries. And the second last over they got four batsmen out, another three deliveries. And in close games, seven deliveries mean a lot," Dhoni pointed out.

CSK's bowling consultant, Eric Simons, sounded "reasonably happy" with the bowling but admitted the team needed to be more precise with their execution.

"I think as a team, throughout batting and bowling, there are little areas we want to try and find to be more accurate around what we want to do. But as a unit, the guys have pretty much played their job. It's a lot about being more accurate with whatever you want to do and whatever your tactics are."

"We always strive to be that little more accurate, but it's about winning those big overs. Every now and then you're sitting up there and going, if we have a really tight over here, the game changes. Sometimes you get away in the last ball or the second-last ball and not understanding sometimes how to come out of an over."

"So, I think being tactically smarter in key moments is probably some of the growth areas that we need to always work on."