Shikhar Dhawan lifted the Delhi Capitals with 85 from 54 balls as last season’s IPL runners-up chased down the Chennai Super Kings’ score of 7-188.
Dhawan combined with Prithvi Shaw (72 from 38) for a 138-run opening partnership as they chased down the score with eight balls to spare, totaling 3-190.
“Coming to bowling, we could have done better,” Dhoni said.
“The batters were hitting over the top, there was some boundary deliveries, where the execution wasn’t nice. The bowlers will learn for the coming guys.”
Shardul Thakur finished with an economy rate of almost 15, after bowling 3.4 overs for 2-53, while Sam Curran’s two overs went for 24 runs.
Deepak Chahar finished with 0-36 from his four overs, while Moeen Ali went for 0-33 from three.
Dhoni also focused on the impact of the dew, with the Capitals winning the toss and electing to field first, enabling them to bat with dew on the outfield.
“A lot depended on how much dew you would get,” Dhoni said. “That’s the reason we wanted to get as much runs as possible.
“As I said, you have to look ahead, especially when you have dew, you have to get extra runs. 7:30 start means opposition will have less amount of dew and we have to score those 15-20 runs extra.
“After that you need to get early wickets also. Well, if we keep consistently getting dew, 200 is something all teams have in mind. I felt both our openers got very good deliveries, and that can happen in a game like this.”