Mumbai, Apr 21: Claiming that his team was quite below par, Chennai Super Kings captain MS Dhoni Sunday said his batters should have got into slogging the ball early, as their rivals Mumbai Indians had started their death-bowling early in Match 38 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 that they lost by nine wickets.

After losing an early wicket, CSK rode on a sensational 15-ball 32 by 17-year-old Ayush Mhatre and half-centuries by Shivam Dube (50) and Ravindra Jadeja (53 not out) to score 176/4 in 20 overs after being asked to bat first at the Wankhede Stadium.

Mumbai Indians aced the chase as Rohit Sharma smacked 76 off 45 balls (4x4, 6x6) and Suryakumar Yadav blasted 68 off 30 (6x4, 5x6) to help them reach 177/1 in 15.4 overs and win with 26 balls remaining.

Dhoni said they did not get a good enough score, considering batting was going to be easy in the second innings because of the dew.

"We were quite below par. Knew dew would come in the second half. (Jasprit) Bumrah is one of the best death bowlers in the world, MI started their death bowling early, we should have started our slog early. We should have capitalised and got those runs," said Dhoni in the post-match presentation.

"The odd ball was gripping. They played spin well. We never had a par score. If you give away too many in the first six. It wasn't like it was coming on nicely," said Dhoni.

The former India captain praised the 17-year-old debutant Ayush Mhatre for his courageous batting as he scored a 15-ball 32 that set the platform for Dube and Ravindra Jadeja to exploit.

"[Mhatre] Batted well; he picked his shots well. Wanted to play his shots, we also haven't seen him much," he said.

He again flagged the Chennai Super Kings' fielding and said his players need not get too emotional about the string of defeats.

"We need to realise, we are successful because we play good cricket. But we need not get too emotional. We need to see if we are playing the right form of cricket, trying to put in the right amount of runs.

"A few more catches will help; we are trying to plug the holes. Take one game at a time. Look at the combinations for the next season, if we don't qualify," the legendary captain said.

(IANS)

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