Instead of celebrating the narrow win against Kings XI Punjab, Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was fuming after poor catching threatened to cost them the high-scoring IPL thriller on Thursday.
Yuvraj Singh was batting on 19 when he miscued a shot off Muttiah Muralitharan but much to the horror of the Chennai side, Manpreet Gony grassed the catch in the deep.
Yuvraj went on to slam an unbeaten 36-ball 58 and even though it was not enough to see his side through, Dhoni didn't mince his words in criticising the lapse.
"It was important to win this match but we were just not up to the mark," an angry Dhoni said after the match.
"We have not stopped dropping catches. There was nothing in the pitch for the spinners and here you spill an opportunity and that too off a batsman like Yuvraj Singh," Dhoni said.
"I'm happy to be on the winning side but we needed to win the match comfortably. In all the matches we have lost, we dropped catches of set batsmen and that is disappointing," Dhoni said.
"This is happening again and again. At this level, you cannot afford to drop catches of someone like Yuvraj. We paid the price for that and it became a close match," Dhoni explained.
His opposite number Yuvraj was also dejected after failing to see his team through in the tense match.
"We almost got there but it's disappointing not to win the match," a dejected Yuvraj said.
Admitting that bowling remains a problem for his team, Yuvraj said, "Had we been able to restrict them to 160-170, we would have won the match today.
"Our bowling remains a major problem for us, especially bowling at death. We have to sort out this issue," he said.
Yuvraj reckoned the defeat has left them with no other option but to try and win all their remaining games which is a huge task.
"We have to win 100 per cent matches and that's not easy," he said.
Yuvraj was also unhappy that he could not ensure a win despite staying till the end.
"I'm not happy with myself either. I should have seen it through. I think I too need to brush up my game," he said.
Man of the Match Matthew Hayden said he was enjoying his game and felt Dhoni's presence at the other end helped him.
