IPL-8: Raina credits Dhoni's leadership for CSK success

Chennai Lauding Chennai Super Kings team effort in todays win against Royal Challengers Bangalore toporder batsman Suresh Raina credited skipper Mahendra SinghDhonis leadership qualities for the sides excellent showing in the IPL cricket tournamentSuresh Raina PicPTIManofthematch Raina topscored with 52 runs as CSK posted 148 for nine in 20 overs and the bowlers combined well to defend the total The lefthanded batsman was pleased with the tabletoppers successfully defending a modest score thrice in the competition so far 150 vs Delhi Daredevils and 134 vs Kolkata Knight RidersIt is overall a team effort whenever you are defending 140 plus I have been with CSK for eight years It is about how you remain positiveThat is one aspect I must say that Dhoni led the team very well during the last four games You must remember that we defended 130140 earlier on Raina saidin the postmatch conference Apart from the seven catches two good run outs especially the one against Virat Kohli 48 helped CSK bundle RCB for 124 in 194 overs Dwayne Bravo reacted well to run Kohli out off his own bowling and Raina admitted that it was the turning point in the unsuccessful chaseThe run out had set the tone first We all know Virat is a very good player whenever he has to chase I would say that run out was very crucial because they were 35 for 2 and suddenly he got out and they were 35 for three and this changed the momentum for us Yes they had a very good partnership going especially Virat He has won lot of matches for us India and when he got out that changed the game for us said RainaPraising the teams fielding he said It all started from the fielding effort Whenever a side is fielding well it is confusing to the batsmen and you tend to give dot balls Therefore when your side comes up with good fielding that gives the team a lot of good games The twotime champions have once again occupied the topspot in the table with 7 wins from 10 matches and Raina who has contributed with 256 runs is happy with his and the teams performance so farI had a chat with MS and he was telling me that if you bat well we have depth and we can score 160 or 170 runs We had always done that in the past In getting runs I was in good shape during the last three four games but not finishing for CSK That goes to say that I need to stay at the wicket and play my shots later onI always believe in quality games but I need to read the circumstances and be focused and what you have to do from 8 to 15 overs which is crucial part in20 overs I think we have done really well as a unit he said Meanwhile not reading too much into the loss against CSK RCB mediumpacer Harshal Patel believes the thirdplaced side is in a very good space in the T20 tournamentWe were in a very good space We had won three games out of four and so losing this game after particularly doing so well with the ball hurts a little definitely But we are not worried too much about that As I said we have been playing very good cricket and we did play some good cricket in this game as well We are just focusing on the positives and want to move on to the next game Patel saidMitchell Starc 324 ably led the RCB attack as Harshal and David Wiese bagged two wickets apiece to restrict CSK to 148 Harshal who also picked up the crucial wicket of Raina was pleased with his and the teams bowling effort I just get on to the ground look at the wicket and try to adapt as quickly as possibleYou also have to look at the batsmen how he is playing and where he is trying to score off you Today I just wanted to bowl into Raina not give him any width So I came around the wicket and that worked for me he said Starcy Starc makes a very big difference in the unit If you look at RCBs last five games we have done very well as a bowling unit not one person or two guys I think everybody has stepped up and contributed and Starcy has a big role in thatHe sets up the tone from the first over He also very aggressive from ball one so that plays on oppositions mind And he has always picked up wickets whenever he hasbowled so that also makes a very big difference he added the 24yearold player from Gujarat believes that that Kohlis wicket changed the course for themWe expected it to be a bit on the slower side but it was still a very good wicket to play cricket on They also scored around 150 after losing early wickets and had Virat not got run out we could have won this game with a couple of overs to spare It was a very good track to play on but a bit on the slower side he said