Dwayne Bravo said Chennai Super Kings stood out to be a better side on Wednesday evening © AFP
By CricketCountry Staff
Bangalore: May 24, 2012
Chennai Super Kings all-rounder Dwayne Bravo on Wednesday acknowledged that Mumbai Indians pacer Lasith Malinga was a threat to their side in their IPL 2012 eliminator clash, due to which they decided to target their second pacer Dhawal Kulkarni.
Chennai captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni clobbered a 20-ball 51 not out and Bravo scored 33 not out off just 14 balls to fire Chennai to 187 for five at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore.
Kulkarni, who grabbed two key wickets of Suresh Raina and Murali Vijay early on, finished up with the figures of three for 46 off four overs.
Bravo said after their 38-run win which eliminated Mumbai from IPL 2012, “It was not where they bowled wrong. You have to give to credit to the way Mahi [MS Dhoni] batted. Hussey in the middle there, Badrinath and then obviously myself coming in at the end.”
“We just backed ourselves. We knew [Lasith] Malinga was a key bowler, so we didn’t try to be aggressive with him and lose our wickets. We tried to target the other bowlers. Obviously, Dhawal bowled well upfront with the new ball, but he is very inexperienced. We knew we could take him down, target him and get a total that we could defend,” Bravo said.
The West Indies cricketer said Chennai stood out to be a better side on Wednesday evening, and their experience came in handy.
“This game was a must-win game; if we lost we were out and that was it. Mumbai [Indians] are a very good team. They had us on the back foot up front, but we bat fairly deep. We have a lot of experience. So we backed ourselves, myself and the c`aptain [MS Dhoni]. We said once we bat the 20 overs, obviously, we will get a good total, which we can defend,” he said.
Bravo told IPLT20.com that his side is now looking forward to take on the Delhi Daredevils in front of the home crowd at Chennai.
"Another good game, another fantastic team. We are looking forward to playing at home. Hopefully, we can get another win and go through to the finals,” he said.
