I would take the blame: Dhoni on CSK's defeat

Chennai Super Kings' stand-in captain MS Dhoni took the "blame" after his team failed to close a run-chase that looked on track for the most part. Chasing 214, CSK needed 42 off 21 balls when Dhoni walked out to bat. The equation came down to 35 to get from the last three overs, and looked well within reach with dew around, especially at a ground where 22 sixes had already been hit until that point in the match.

But in the 18th over, Dhoni and a well-set Ravindra Jadeja, then batting on 65* off 36, managed only six runs off Suyash Sharma, the legspinner. Even though Dhoni hit a maximum off Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the 19th over, he couldn't take his team home after CSK needed 15 off the last over. He fell again to Yash Dayal in an encore of the last year's fixture between the sides in Bengaluru.

When asked by Ravi Shastri at the post-match presentation on where CSK might have put a foot wrong, Dhoni said that he should have converted a few more shots.

"Well, I think looking at the over, when I went into that with the kind of deliveries and the runs needed, I felt I should have converted maybe a couple of more shots and that would have eased the pressure," Dhoni said. "So, I would take the blame for it."

That CSK failed to win after restricting Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the middle overs, and then mounting a run-chase that never felt like it was lagging behind, would have hurt. But CSK, to be honest, lost it in the final few overs of both the innings. While they were taken to the cleaners by Romario Shepherd's 14-ball 53* earlier in the evening, their batting couldn't see the run-chase in slightly more favourable conditions.

"I thought they got off to a good start. In between, we pulled it back. But Romario Shepherd, in the death overs, was brilliant, " Dhoni said. "Whatever our bowlers were bowling, he was able to get maximum runs."

What could the CSK bowlers have done differently in the death overs? "I think we need to practice more yorkers," Dhoni said. "Because if you see, more often than not, when the batsman starts to connect, then you have to rely on yorkers and the margin of error [is small]. So if you're looking for a perfect yorker, if that doesn't happen, a low full toss is the next best thing because it's one of the most difficult balls to hit. So, I think that's where we need to improve.

"And somebody like a [Matheesha] Pathirana, if the yorkers are not happening, he has got pace. He can bowl a bouncer at the same time, keep the batsman guessing. Because, at times, if he's looking for the yorker, batsmen try to line him up, and if he misses, the batsman has a chance of hitting."