Read it in Hindi.

Read it in Marathi.

In a thrilling encounter, we lost out to CSK on the last ball as MS Dhoni took our opponents home in a chase of 156.

It was a marvellous fighting effort from the team and head coach Mahela Jayawardene felt as much and thought it came down to instinct.

“It is a tough loss to take, the guys fought really well. We just need that instinct to finish games off, today we had to get through the first six overs because the wicket was tough. The bowlers bowled brilliantly, executed the plans but in the end, the experience of MS closed the game for them,” noted Mahela in the post-match press conference.

“We need to get over these small margins and just have to keep fighting, that’s the message to the team.”

With debuts handed today to Riley Meredith and Hrithik Shokeen, with Daniel Sams making a great comeback with 4-30, Mahela stated the team combination depends on a lot of factors.

“We pick the team depending on our tactics and the opposition. We have a young group who we are giving chances to, I thought Hrithik bowled well today. We create those opportunities to see if something sparks and at the same time, it’s also important to keep the core group going,” felt Mahela.

The head coach also talked about Aussie pacer Meredith, who returned with figures of 1/25 in his four overs.

“Riley had a side strain in the beginning, so it was a gradual build up for him. He had to bowl a lot before playing, he could have played the last game but we wanted to keep some consistency. He had the confidence, I’m pretty happy with his bowling and he used his variations well today,” said Mahela.

And the coach was also confident that his core group of players will bounce back soon enough from the lean patch they are going through.

“It’s been up and down, Ishan did well the first couple of games, Ro has gotten good starts but not been able to convert. When you get out early, you feel nothing goes your way. I will be concerned if they don't hit it well but they have. We have to back their ability, they have played a lot in the Tata IPL and it will turn around,” he concluded.

A heartbreaking loss in the end but it was a fighting effort from the team as they gave it their all and we would love to see more of the same against LSG at the Wankhede on April 24th.