Harbhajan Singh says ‘CSK played like champions’

Mumbai Indians captain Harbhajan Singh expressed disappointment over his team’s poor show in the play-off, but was not reluctant to praise the opponent side, saying that Chennai Super Kings played like champions.

Mumbai Indians was badly thrashed by Dhoni XI in the elimination final at Chennai on Wednesday. Batting first, the Super Kings piled up a gigantic total of 187, thanks to brilliant batting by Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo.

The two right-handers scored 74 runs off 29 balls for the sixth-wicket-partnership. In reply, the Indians were never in position to achieve the target.

As a result of a dismal batting performance, the visiting side lost the game by 38 runs. Harbhajan was not happy with his side’s effort and said that CSK deserved to be the winners.

"Of course, I am disappointed that we lost, but we cannot change the result. The CSK played like champions and deserved to win," Harbhajan said after the game

“Dhoni and Dwayne Bravo took the game away from us in the last four overs of their innings, and there was not much we could do," he added.

Dhoni scooped the ‘Man of the Match’ award for his rapid 51 off 20 balls. Michael Hussey and Subramaniam Badrinath also played well to add 94 runs for the second-wicket-stand.

Dhoni singled out Badrinath for his wonderful effort, calling him CSK’s silent hero against Mumbai. "Hussey and Badri gave us the platform with their partnership. Badri is our silent hero," Dhoni said.

The wicket-keeper batsman added, "We did follow the matches, but it was beyond our control. It was always there at the back of our mind that we could still qualify and the results of other matches went our way. So we are here."

Kolkata Knight Riders have already made it to finale of IPL 5. After losing to KKR, Delhi Daredevils are set to meet Chennai Super Kings in the second qualifier.

The Daredevils topped the points table in the first round of the championship and have been consistent since the beginning. However, after such a tremendous performance against Mumbai, the Dhoni-led side will be a hard nut to crack.

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Posted by Rana Nasir Ghafoor on May 24 2012. Filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry