Bangalore: Mahendra Singh Dhoni played a captain’s knock of 51 off 20 balls and his 74 runs off 29 balls partnership with Dwayne Bravo took away the match from Mumbai Indians in the first half itself. Later the Chennai bowlers bowled their heart out and ripped apart the Mumbai batting to give Chennai a 38-run victory. However the skipper credited the 94-stand between Michael Hussey and Subramaniam Badrinath for his team’s victory saying that theey gave them a platform and later he and Bravo capitalised on that.

"Hussey and Badri gave us the platform with their partnership. Badri is our silent hero," said Dhoni.

Adjudged Man of the Match, Dhoni said that over the past week his team that had completed the league engagements, watched the other games whose results directly influenced their entry into play-offs.


"We did follow the matches, but it was beyond our control. It was always there at the back of our mind that we could still qualify and the results of other matches went our way. So we are here," said Dhoni referring to the agonizing week when the Super Kings' fate hinged on the results of three matches.


The Super Kings eventually tied on points with Royal Challengers Bangalore, but nosed ahead on better Net Run Rate.

Talking about his helicopter shots that he played in the crucial tie on Wednesday, Dhoni said that it was as a result of his playing a lot of tennis ball cricket. “I used to play a lot of tennis ball cricket. I am lucky to have used it to perfection today. These kind of shots aren’t easy to play as it can hurt your ankle if not played properly,” said the CSK skipper.

Meanwhile acknowledging that they were outclassed by the sheer brilliance of MS Dhoni & Co., Mumbai skipper Harbhajan Singh said when Dhoni bats like the way he did today, there wasn’t much that his team could do.

Harbhajan complimented Chennai Super Kings for "playing like champions". "Of course, I am disappointed that we lost, but we cannot change the result. The Super Kings played like champions and deserved to win today," said Harbhajan after the game.

"Dhoni and Bravo took the game away from us in the last four overs (of the Super Kings innings), and there was not much we could do," he added, referring to the rollicking unfinished stand of 74 runs off 29 balls between Dhoni and Bravo for the sixth wicket.