With Shikhar Dhawan carrying his bat through the Delhi chase, MS Dhoni utilised Ravindra Jadeja for only one over during the second innings.
That was, until he had to take a call on which bowler would bowl the final over of the match.
With Delhi needing 21 runs off the last 2 overs, Dhoni handed the ball to Sam Curran in the 19th and the all-rounder conceded just four runs. Delhi then needed 17 off the last 6 balls to win the match and with everyone expecting Bravo to be handed the ball, Dhoni chose Jadeja instead. The all-rounder was hit for three massive sixes off the first five deliveries as Delhi went onto win the game by 5 wickets.
After the match, MSD clarified why he didn't give the ball to Bravo, who had conceded just 23 runs in his first 3 overs.
“Bravo was not fit. He went out and didn’t come back. The options were Jaddu and Karn. I went with Jaddu,” Dhoni said at the post-match ceremony.
With Chennai dropping as many as four catches of Shikhar Dhawan – who went onto score his maiden IPL century – Dhoni said the dropped catches were detrimental to the result.
"Shikhar's wicket was important but we dropped him quite a number of times. If he keeps batting, he will keep the strike rate high. Also the wicket played better in the second half, but we can't take the credit away from Shikhar," said the CSK skipper.
Speaking at the post-match press conference, CSK coach Stephen Fleming suggested that Bravo’s injury could take anywhere between a few days and a few weeks to heal.
“He seems to have a right groin injury, I think. It’s obviously serious enough to keep him from coming back on the field. He was just really disappointed he wasn't able to bowl that over, that’s what he’s pretty much in the team for. He will have to be reassessed going forward but at this stage you would imagine it’s going to take a few days or maybe a couple of weeks. We will assess that tomorrow,” said the former New Zealand captain.
The one positive for CSK, as is now becoming a norm, was Sam Curran’s bowling and the skipper said he was impressed with the way the young bowler under handled the pressure of the 19th over.
"A positive was Sam's last over. He needs convincing he can execute the wide yorkers. He is not usually confident with that, but today he did well with that. So that is one ball that can be difficult to hit,” said Dhoni.
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