Pune: Steven Smith played a game-changing innings while Jesse Ryder stayed till the end and saw Pune Warriors get past defending champions Chennai Super Kings to register their third win in four games in the IPL-5 here on Saturday. Even as Pune Warriors skipper Sourav Ganguly praised his players for a spirited performance, CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said bowling is their weak link and that needs to be improved.

“It’s a new stadium. It’s a great and exciting cricketing pitch.  CSK is a tough and strong team and when you win against them, you feel good and same is the case with the crowd. They are bound to go crazy,” said Ganguly on the crowd support, stating that Steven Smith played a gem off an innings and Jesse Ryder staying till the end was a revelation.

“Steven has improved immensely since the last time I saw him. He played a fantastic innings. It’s not easy to come from Australia and adjust to the slow pitches here. But our bowlers also bowled well. At one point CSK were heading for 165-170. But our bowlers were able to restrict them. Ashish Nehra and Ashok Dinda bowled brilliantly, while Rahul Sharma and Marlon Samuels came out good with their spells,” said Ganguly.

Meanwhile Dhoni said that CSK’s batting has been strong but they have a weak link with regard to their bowling. “We have struggled bowling the first six overs and the last few overs. Our execution wasn’t good. Ashwin has been bowling well, but others have struggled. Our batting is really good but we have struggled bowling the death overs. We need to improve in that department. It’s not new to us. We have been trying to improve in the last five years but quite slowly,” added Dhoni.

Meanwhile, man-of-the-match Jesse Ryder said that Steven Smith with his innings made his job easier. “Balls came on nicely. The pitch was slow and low previously but it came on the bat this time.”