I don't think we could have had a better start: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni is no doubt the most experienced skipper in the IPL and one of the most successful captains in the history of the league but playing for a all new team, with a new bunch of players and with little time to gel up can crop up lot of problems for the skipper and many expected that the Rising Pune Supergiants will need some time before they settle down as a unit and get their act together, but what happened at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai tonight was something totally different. The Mahendra Singh Dhoni led site put up a really clinical show to out class the defending champions Mumba Indians at their home in all the three departments of the game.

The skipper was mighty pleased with his teams performance and said they couldn’t have asked for a better start to their IPL campaign. He credited his bowlers for their performance which chocked the MI batsmen and let them score just 121 runs against 8 wickets in the first half of the game.

In the post match presentation, MS Dhoni said: “I don’t think we could have had a better start than this. A lot of credit to the bowlers, especially Rajat (Bhatia). He bowled in that uncomfortable area once they lost a lot of early wickets,”

“The opposition also went hard, and on a wicket where the fast bowlers had assistance, there were chances. There was pressure on their lower order, but the bowlers did a fantastic job. We should improve in the death overs.”

He heaped praise on Mumbai boy Ajinkya Rahane for his fluent, unbeaten 66-run knock that got them over the line with 9 wickets in hand. “When you don’t have too many runs on the board, the batsman have an easier job. Always felt (Ajinkya) Rahane is brilliant where the ball comes on and off the wickets. He is traditional and the way he finished it off was very good,” Dhoni said.

The Mumbai skipper probably failed to read the pitch properly and after the kind of start they had MI was always playing the catching game and never quite managed to get grips on RPS. Rohit Sharma said: “The pitch looked okay, we didn’t bat well. 121 wasn’t enough. Lot to learn from this game, hopefully we go back and think about it,”

“We didn’t think the ball was going to do that much. I thought they swung the ball early on and our shot selection wasn’t that great it cost us the game,” Rohit said.

For his match winning half-century, Pune opener Ajinkya was awarded the Man of the match. Rahane said:  “I felt it was important to time the ball, When we were bowling, the ball was stopping and seaming a bit. It was important to take my time and finish the game. Track was two-paced, different to Wankhede wicket,”

“It was holding and for the first six overs, it was doing a lot.” He said.

How did Twitter react to the game? – Twitter Reactions: Supergiants start their IPL campaign with a comprehensive win over MI