Chennai, April 12 Five-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were fuelled by a "desperation" to snap a three-game losing streak and were desperate to win their IPL 2026 match against Delhi Capitals, according to the side’s bowling consultant Eric Simons.
At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Sanju Samson’s unbeaten 115 and Jamie Overton’s 4-18 helped CSK beat DC by 23 runs and get their first win of the ongoing competition. The victory also meant CSK got their first win in Chepauk after losing six successive games.
“I mean, it’s always been about this tournament; you need to get on a roll, and you need to get the positivity going. But there’s a lot of positivity around the camp, obviously, after a win like this, but even leading into it, the practices and attitudes have been good. Here, the self-belief was very good; was it lagging behind the previous games?
“No, I don’t think so there was a lack of self-belief. It’s funny, often fielding is the mood of a team, and Sarfaraz takes the catch like this, it just lifts everybody, so that happens. I’d say the boys really were desperate to win this one.
“I think we were tired of losing two-three games in a row, so there was a certain attitude about the guys rather than anything else, but the self-belief has always been there,” said Simons in the post-match press conference.
Speaking about Samson’s knock, Simons equated his calmness with that of the legendary MS Dhoni. "I've been privileged to spend many years being involved with MS Dhoni. He's one of the calmest cricketers I've ever come across, and Sanju Samson's not far behind that.
“He just understands the game from that perspective. I've seen no panic. There was never any doubt that this was coming. You've just got to keep trusting and believing in your quality, and he certainly has that in abundance," he added.
CSK entered Saturday’s fixture facing significant scrutiny over their ability to rebound from a heavy 43-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bengaluru last Sunday. Simons insisted CSK’s internal morale remained intact, dismissing suggestions of a dip in dressing room confidence.
“I think it is a habit, you get used to it - getting into tough situations and getting yourself out. The mood in the changing room tonight is obviously really good, but it never really dropped; I mean, it was always a case of, I really mean it, I think people looked at the RCB game and thought we were a long way behind.
“We didn’t think we were a long way behind, the numbers probably, we could have easily found 30 runs with your bowl, then you chase at 220 and you get to 210 having lost an early wicket, so we didn’t feel we were a long way behind, so there’s a lot of positivity anyway,” he added.
Simons signed off by praising Overton’s spell. “I think the important thing is that each person finds their way of doing the job in the area of the game than he has to bowl. So he tried something last week which didn’t work.
“But he really went with his strengths - the hard lengths. He always had a good yorker, worked on an off pace delivery. When you’re bowling 150kmph, and you’ve got an off pace delivery that’s under 120, then it’s really effective - so he’s done some work on that as well.”
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