MS Dhoni’s catches ultimately helped us win the game: Devon Conway

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opener Devon Conway admitted that thankfully the dropped catches didn’t cost the team much and it was MS Dhoni’s taking two skyscrapers to dismiss Glenn Maxwell and Faf du Plessis that helped us to win the game.
Overall, Chennai fielders dropped five catches and missed two run-out opportunities. It took exceptional calm from Dhoni to dismiss Maxwell and du Plessis pouching skied shots in the space of 12 deliveries.
“Those were very tough catches. It’s not easy to catch ball that goes straight up in the air in the dark knight. We are very lucky to have MS Dhoni with gloves on. If any person you want to take those tough chances, he is probably your guy. It broke the momentum of the innings and ultimately helped us win the game,” Conway told reporters.
“No one likes to drop catches on purpose. I don’t know if there was pressure on the fielders tonight, thankfully it wasn’t costly for us. We’ve just got to keep practising under pressure, take those half opportunities and thankfully we bowled well in the death too. That helped us repair those drop catches,” he added.
CSK captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni missed a regulation early catch of counterpart Faf du Plessis, who went on to score 62 off 33, including five fours and four sixes. Maxwell came to the crease when Bangalore was 15-2 after two overs, and shared with du Plessis a lofty 126 runs off 61 balls.
“Before going in the field, MS told us that we are going to be put under pressure at times. They had brilliant momentum. Faf and Glenn put us under pressure but we always felt that having 200 plus on the board and if we get a couple of wickets, we can always bounce back. For our bowlers it was staying clear, staying patient, and when the opportunity comes take it from both hands,” he said.
Devon Conway smacked six sixes and six fours on his way to 83 off 45 balls. Conway put on 74 off 43 with Ajinkya Rahane, who scored 37 off 20. Their partnership set the momentum for Chennai, which scored 112 runs in nine overs after the powerplay.
Conway added another 80 off 37 with Shivam Dube, who cracked five sixes and two fours in 52 off 27 balls.
“Really good surface to bat on. I managed to get some good momentum throughout the partnerships I had with Ajinkya and Shivam Dube.
“Try and create the strike rate of 200, I didn’t actually manage to achieve that but others like Ajinkya and Shivam, Rayudu and Moeen Ali at the end, they all chipped in with really good strike rates and helped us reach to a very competitive total. That’s probably the method on a wicket like this, which is good to bat,” he said.

The CSK opener also lauded youngster Matheesha Pathirana, who was playing his first IPL match of the season and did exceptionally well to bowl in the death overs.
“To come in the first game and execute under pressure like that was brilliant for Matheesha Pathirana. He executed brilliantly under pressure. I personally haven’t faced the ball of him, I sort of watch him from a dance and think I don’t want to face that. Having a chat with Parnell, I sympathised for him. I know playing the first ball with the action like that can be very testing,” he said.