Lucknow: Lucknow Super Giants leg-spinner Ravi Bishnoi is not quite sure why he didn’t get to bowl at the death against CSK despite a fine spell but backed his captain Rishabh Pant’s decision, saying as a skipper “he had some plans in mind.”
Pant had opted for pace over spin at the death when MS Dhoni joined Shivam Dube (43) in the middle with CSK needing 56 off the last 30 balls.
The decision backfired as Dhoni blasted 26 off 11 balls as CSK achieved the victory target of 167 with three balls to spare.
“I didn’t really talk (to Pant) about it. I came to the wicket twice, but maybe he had some plans in mind. He probably wanted to execute something else...,” Bishnoi said during the post-match press conference.
“A captain can see better and from behind the stumps, he can understand the situation better. So according to me, he took the decision that he felt was better. It was clear in his mind. In a tense situation, it is better for a captain to think from his point of view so he took what was the better decision,” he added.
Bishnoi send down nine dot balls in his three overs, dismissing Rahul Tripathi and Ravindra Jadeja in the ninth and 13th overs, respectively.
‘Dhoni a good teacher’
A five-time IPL winner, Dhoni took over the captaincy role again after regular skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out due to an injury.
Highlighting his influence in the team, CSK bowling coach Eric Simmons said: “His influence has been there all the time, even when he wasn’t captain. His relationship with Rutu is very important. His relationship with Fleming and all the players is very important.
“It’s not that he teaches typical technical issues about the game, but it’s the calmness that you see out there—that’s how he teaches you to play the game He teaches an understanding of cricket, which is a very important aspect of the game.”
Dhoni was named the Player of the Match for his contribution on the field and also scored 26 off 11 balls to take CSK home against LSG.
“The fact that he’s captain or not captain—he’s the same person. It didn’t change when he wasn’t, in terms of his actual influence on the team. He’s obviously a very important part of our set-up,”
Simmons said.