Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni's experience in cricket helped him to predict correctly the timing of the turn on the pitch. But his opposite number in Rajasthan Royals (RR), also a fellow wicket-keeper, was shocked by the turn during their Indian Premier League (IPL) match here at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
CSK defeated RR by 45 runs as their spinners Ravindra Jadeja and Moeen Ali shared five wickets.
After Jos Buttler had hit Jadeja for a six during the RR innings and the ball was replaced, Dhoni correctly predicted that the ball would turn. Soon Jadeja bowled Buttler with one that turned sharply.
Commentator and former India batsman Rohan Gavaskar tweeted during the innings:
Jadeja had, up until then, was being easily maneuvered around. But the change of ball brought in turn for him.
RR skipper Samson was, however, quite shocked by it.
"We never expected that [turn], the dew didn't come and the ball was still turning, so it was a bit shocking to see," said Samson while speaking at the post-match presentation.
Samson blamed the loss of wickets in the middle to spinners for the loss that RR suffered.
"I thought it was a good score to chase down but we lost too many wickets in the middle overs. Our bowlers bowled really well, they batted too deep. We gave them 10-15 runs extra," added Samson.
Dhoni, meanwhile, said, "It was stopping a bit for spinners. There was slightly less dew than the usual."