Ayush Mhatre's 94 and Ravindra Jadeja's 77 not out went in vain as Chennai Super Kings narrowly failed in the 214-run chase at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. CSK lost by two runs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru to incur their ninth defeat in the season and remain at the bottom of the table. RCB, on the other hand, roared to the top of the table again as they now have one foot in the playoffs, with three more games in hand.
Amid the RCB onslaught at their home venue, captain MS Dhoni, at one point, was seen left frustrated at Khaleel Ahmed's antics. It happened after the second ball of the 11th over when Ravindra Jadeja was in action against Virat Kohli, who was on the verge of yet another half-century in the season.
After the delivery, stand-in skipper MS Dhoni was seen making some changes to the field, when suddenly he looked towards his left and was left frustrated to see Khaleel not at his supposed fielding position.
He then screamed, saying: “Khaleel, udhar kisiko fielding kartein dekha hai kabhi (Have you ever seen anyone fielding there)?”
Bad day in the office for Khaleel Ahmed
It wasn't the day for the left-armer at the Chinnaswamy. After being clobbered for 32 runs in his first two overs in the powerplay, he was brought back in the 19th over, where Romario Shepherd showed no mercy to the bowler, smashing him for 33 runs, including a six off a no-ball.
{{/usCountry}}It wasn't the day for the left-armer at the Chinnaswamy. After being clobbered for 32 runs in his first two overs in the powerplay, he was brought back in the 19th over, where Romario Shepherd showed no mercy to the bowler, smashing him for 33 runs, including a six off a no-ball.
{{/usCountry}}It was he most expensive over for a CSK bowler in IPL history, going past 30 runs, which Lungi Ngidi had conceded five years back against the Rajasthan Royals.
In fact, experts questioned Dhoni's captaincy call of turning to Khaleel despite the impressive Anshul Kamboj (3-0-25-0) having one over remaining, but Chennai Super Kings head coach Stephen Fleming backed the pacer to the hilt.
However, he said that the team will explore more options in the future in the season, where they have three more games left.
"Khaleel has done really well for us this season, so, there's no reason for MS to have changed that. Kamboj is growing into his role nicely. He has the ability to do death (over bowling). He will be an option going forward, but there was no reason why Khaleel would be replaced to do that," said Fleming in the post-match press conference