When Dhoni bats, it is difficult for bowlers: Rahane

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) first had the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on the mat at 27/3 and again had the upper hand when they needed 25 off the last 12 balls. But the end result was an 8-run win for the CSK in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter at the Chepauk Stadium here. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane made his displeasure known at the end of the game.

"As a batting unit we need to take the responsibility for this. We win as a team and we lose as a team. If we win the smaller moments in T20s we will do well. We have played well in the last three games and hopefully with some luck we'll be able to turn it around," he said after the match on Sunday.

Rahane was all praise for his counterpart as MS Dhoni player a match winning knock of 75 to guide CSK to 175 in their 20 overs on a wicket that was by no stretch of imagination a batting paradise.

"When MS bats, it is very difficult for the bowlers. It was very hard for the bowlers to grip the ball after six overs, even the fast bowlers. But CSK bowled really well, they kept taking wickets," he acknowledged.

The Royals skipper felt that RR lost the game in the last five overs.

"Very disappointed. We started off really well in the first ten overs, but what cost us were the last five overs," he said.

--IANS

bbh/ksk