IPL 2022: 'CSK have done well in patches, important to keep doing well as a team' - MS Dhoni

On Friday, Rajasthan Royals defeated Chennai Super Kings in its final IPL 2022 game. MS Dhoni feels that his team has done well in patches and should keep doing well as a team.

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Four-time defending champion Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has completed its forgetful Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 season. In Match 68, it suffered a five-wicket loss to former champion Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Friday. The win put RR into the playoffs, while CSK was out of the contention long ago. CSK remains placed at ninth, finishing with four wins and ten losses. In contrast, it could end at the bottom if record five-time former champion Mumbai Indians (MI) defeats Delhi Capitals (DC) by a considerable margin on Saturday. Meanwhile, CSK skipper MS Dhoni has assessed IPL 2022 for his side.

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After the defeat, Dhoni said during the post-match presentation, "We have done well in patches, but what is essential is to keep doing well as a team. The crucial thing is whenever you get an opportunity, once you are in, you need to make the most of it, whether you are a bowler or a batter and keep learning."

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"It's not a one-year tournament. You keep coming back year after year. So once you keep learning and mature, that's when you capitalise and be a big IPL player for the next 10-12 years. That's what you need from youngsters. They have learned a lot from whatever games they have got from it," added Dhoni.

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Praising his youngsters, Dhoni displayed, "One of the biggest examples is Mukesh [Choudhary]. He has played all the games. But, what is impressive is seeing from the first to the last game how he has improved, how he can bowl at the death. Still, he will go back and learn from his outings. That's what we want from players."

"Once they have that experience, what is important next year once they return from IPL is that they don't start from scratch again. That is what is needed from the youngsters, and most of them have made the most of whatever chance they have. Our Malinga [Pathirana], he's really good. It's difficult to pick him, and I feel he will contribute to us in a big way next year," continued Dhoni.

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Analysing the defeat to RR, Dhoni reckoned, "What we need to realise is we're playing a batter light. Once we lost those quick wickets, Moeen had to change his momentum. I feel if one of the batters had batted with him, he could have continued his momentum. The role and responsibility got slightly swapped once we lost those wickets, which made it difficult."

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"So, a batter light with the last four, they're not known for their batting. If we went hard and lost another wicket there, we wouldn't have got anything that we would look to defend. I would say 10-15 [short]," concluded Dhoni.