Chennai, Mar. 27 (PTI): Gujarat Titans pace bowler Mohit Sharma acknowledged that it was difficult to replace a bowler of Mohammed Shami’s caliber as his team lost badly here, falling short by 63 runs to the defending IPL champion Chennai Super Kings. Shami, the top pacer for India, is not playing in the IPL because he is recovering from ankle surgery. After missing the five-Test series against England, he is anticipated to return later this year with the home Test series against Bangladesh. Shami will also be absent from the June T20 World Cup, which the West Indies and the USA will co-host.
A bowler like Shami is inevitably missed by any team, and no one can ever truly replace him. During the post-match press conference, Sharma—who played for CSK from 2013 to 2015 and has been with the Titans since 2022—stated, “But injuries are uncontrollable, and you must see how to move ahead with it.” “As for GT, this is Spencer Johnson’s and Azmatullah Omarzai’s first year. They have not had a lot of cricket matches yet. As such, we need to exercise patience with them and avoid becoming overly focused on the end result.
We should be more concerned with how well our plans are going and how we are working on it behind the scenes than with the runs that were leaked or the contest’s outcome. These items would be useful in the event’s second part, according to Sharma. Along with Shivam Dube (51), openers Ruturaj Gaikwad (36) and Rachin Ravindra (46), were the main contributors to CSK’s massive 206 for six. Umesh Yadav, the skilful Afghanistan ace spinner, went for 27 in two overs, while Rashid Khan, the GT bowlers, took a few wickets but went for 49 in four overs.
Sharma also mentioned that CSK’s powerplay milking runs were a factor in the significant defeat. “The difference (in CSK’s strategy) is not that great. When I played for CSK, it used to be the same, and we would typically try to maximize the powerplay overs,” he remarked. At the end of the powerplay overs, CSK was 69/1. “We anticipated a similar outcome, particularly given Rachin’s (Ravindra’s) recent batting performance. Nevertheless, during our bowling, we misjudged the width and length and improperly carried out our plans.
ALSO READ:- Brazil’s equalizer against Spain came from a penalty kick in the final seconds of a thrilling draw
We did not carry out our plans as intended. We started bowling the slower players too early and wide off the off stump, which allowed them to score easily. It occasionally occurs that plans are not carried out correctly every time. However, since it is a major competition, we have plenty of time to start over, make corrections, and start over from scratch. Our goal was to reach 200, which was the par score for this wicket, and CSK performed exactly as we had anticipated. They were aiming for 225–230 before settling for 206, but we thought we gave up an additional 15-20 runs because we could not carry out our plans.” In addition, Sharma defended the visitors’ choice to bowl first, pointing out that dew is a constant in night games—though, oddly enough, there was not much of it on Tuesday. “. Do not believe that the pitch matters. Usually, if we win the toss and choose to bowl, it is because we anticipate that the dew may become an issue at some point during the match.
However, on Tuesday, there was no dew. While dew would have been an added bonus for us, we still chose to bowl and limit them to a par total. “CSK would have moved in with two spinners if the wicket had been drier. However, he thought, it would have been difficult for them to hit if the (GT) pacers had bowled in the correct spots. “I will not say we did not score runs, but I give the CSK bowlers credit.”
Mohit did not attribute the poor performance to the batters, even after the team lost by 63 runs. GT’s top scorer was Sai Sudharsan (37), but CSK bowlers executed their plan flawlessly, restricting them to 143/8. “We did not lose, but the CSK bowlers deserve praise for their outstanding bowling. Deepak (Chahar) got off to a good start, and ultimately, it all comes down to how many variations you have. However, the early wicket losses that prevented us from forming partnerships and the accurate length bowling of CSK bowlers prevented us from increasing the run rate, and we started to lag in every over,” he concluded. PTI AYG AM AM AYG AM Notice: The Deccan Chronicle staff did not edit this article; it was published from a syndicated feed.
