Dhoni fails to finish? Captain Cool takes the 'blame' as CSK lose final-ball thriller against RCB

Just when the ball looked in Chennai Super KIngs' court last night, the MS Dhoni-led side faltered yet again, and could not score 4 runs off the final ball against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Now, who is to 'blame'?

Well, the captain cool has blamed himself for the 2-run loss at the Chinnaswamy, saying he should have "converted a couple of more shots to ease the pressure" when he was in the middle.

Kudos to Yash Dayal for having dismissed MS Dhoni when he had to defend just 13 runs in 3 balls.


"When I went into bat, with the kind of deliveries and the runs needed, I felt I should have converted a couple more shots to ease the pressure. I take the blame," Dhoni told post the match.

CSK fell short of two runs in chasing a monstrous target of 214 runs, with young Ayush Mhatre's 94 (48 balls, 9x4, 5x6) and Ravindra Jadeja's unbeaten 77 (45 balls, 8x4, 2x6) going in vain. The two had put CSK on course for a victory with their splendid 64-ball 114-run stand for the third wicket..

The 2025 IPL season has been one to be forgetting for CSK as it is laden with issues on and off the field. The 43-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman himself was dismissed by a low full toss delivery, which Dhoni admitted that CSK's batters were not equipped to play low-full tosses as well as some others.

"Not all batters are comfortable playing that (the paddle) shot. (It is) something the batters need to practice in the modern era. But most of our batters are not comfortable playing it," he said.

"Jadeja plays that shot but he was backing his shots (down the ground) more. Batting was an area where we were slightly behind. But today, as a department, feel the batting did very well," Dhoni added.

RCB skipper heaps praises on Yash Dayal

It is not the first time that Yash Dayal has shown this level of brilliance in the death. Even though RCB missed Hazlewood in their eleven, the bowling unit managed to cling a narrow two-run victory, making it another last-ball thriller and sealing only their second win at home.

RCB skipper Rajat Patidar credited his team and especially Yash Dayal's final over. Dayal nailed his low full tosses perfectly to deny CSK a win, despite being hit for a six and even bowling a no ball.

"It was a tight game but credit goes to the batsmen the way they batted. The way the bowlers shown the courage, it was tremendous," he said.

"He (Dayal) is a main bowler of the team, he is a death specialist, it was a clear-cut thought to give the last over to Yash. Last year also he did well and I'm happy for him. I had confidence in Suyash (Sharma) also, till now he has been bowling good overs for RCB," Patidar added.