Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], April 24 : Following Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) emphatic 103-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI) at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, West Indies spinner Akeal Hosein spoke about adapting to conditions, learning from team discussions, and executing plans effectively after registering a match-winning four-wicket haul.
Samson's second century of the season continued his T20 purple patch, while Akael's four-wicket haul played a crucial role in giving MI timely jolts and containing their fiery batting line-up, as they fell 103 runs short while chasing 208 at Wankhede Stadium, continuing their poor run in the tournament.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, Akeal said he was not overly surprised by the assistance offered by the pitch, highlighting how early conditions played a role in the ball gripping and slowing down.
"Not too surprised. There are times when you get grass, fresh grass on the pitch, and the ball tends to hold and grip a bit," he said.
The WI spinner said that for him, it was all about executing his plan to the best of his abilities and contributing to the team's cause. He also spoke on working in collaboration with coaches for gaining more knowledge on bowling on red soil, black soil pitches, the properties these surfaces have and what kind of balls work.
"Happy to have contributed to the team's win and with my performance. I have been trying to pick the coaches' and players' brains on red soil, black soil, what it does, and which deliveries work. I was pretty happy with how I went about it today, because it can be a bit challenging if you do not adapt to the conditions quickly. Some deliveries come on a bit slower, some surfaces react differently. It is about just trying to do your homework as fast as possible," he said.
Akeal's four-wicket haul made him only the second CSK bowler after Noor Ahmad to achieve a four-wicket haul against MI, and the first CSK bowler to do so at Wankhede Stadium.
He termed Sanju's unbeaten knock as an important one in holding the innings together till the very end, taking down youngster Krish Bhagat for 16 runs, including two sixes and a four to bring up the 200-run mark and his fifth IPL ton. Despite losing three quick wickets after a great start and being reduced to 91/3, Samson proved to be the glue which held CSK together.
"I think it was very important. We had a great powerplay, but we lost three wickets later and going in the middle overs, not sure whether to accelerate or slow down. They have some quality bowlers in the line-up. At one point, if we kept losing wickets, we could have fallen short and scored 160-70. Sanju was calculative, and he stayed till the end, taking on the new bowler in the end," he signed off.
MI won the toss and opted to bowl first. Samson stood tall with a sensational 54-ball 101*, with 10 fours and six sixes, as supporting knocks came from skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad (22 in 14 balls, with three fours and a six) and Dewald Brevis (21 in 11 balls, with a four and two sixes), taking CSK to 207/6 in 20 overs.
For MI, Allah Ghazanfar (2/25) and Ashwani Kumar (2/37) were the standout bowlers.
In reply, MI's batting lineup collapsed dramatically despite a brief 73-run partnership between Suryakumar Yadav (36 in 30 balls, with five fours) and Tilak Verma (37 in 29 balls, with five fours), as they were bundled out for 104. Akeal Hosein (4/18) and Noor Ahmad (2/24) led CSK's bowling attack.
With this win, CSK moved to fifth position on the points table with three wins and four losses, while MI slipped to eighth with two wins and five losses.
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