After registering a 5-wicket win against Mumbai Indians (MI)  by five wickets in the opening match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, the young Chennai Super Kings (CSK) all-rounder Sam Curran hailed skipper MS Dhoni describing him as a ”genius”. While chasing 163, Dhoni decided to promote the southpaws Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran ahead of him and as a result, the Englishman went on to play a whirlwind cameo of 18 runs off just 6 balls to put CSK in a comfortable position.

In the end, Faf du Plessis and Dhoni took CSK over the line against MI in Abu Dhabi. As per the quotes in ESPNCricinfo, Curran said, “To be honest, very surprised I went in at number six but he’s a genius, he obviously thought something. Great win in the end. I think the left-right combination was his plan.”

ALSO READ: Sakshi Dhoni Feels Joyful As Her Husband Made A Comeback

He further added, “The 18th over from Krunal Pandya was the over we wanted to target – a six or out approach mentality. Take the risk, and if it comes off it comes off if it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

When asked why he chose to promote Curran and Jadeja, Dhoni after the match said: “At some point, I thought we needed to give Jadeja and someone like Sam Curran to go ahead in the batting order and express themselves. They still had two spinners remaining, and we tried to intimidate the bowler a bit, it was just a psychological aspect. We know we bat quite deep and wanted them to go after the bowler. If you clear one or two sixes, then it is easier for the batsmen to follow.”

For CSK, Ambati Rayudu played a match-winning knock of 71 while Faf du Plessis played an unbeaten knock of 58. For Mumbai, Pattinson returned with the best figures of 1/27 from his quota of four overs.

ALSO READ: Rashid Khan Likes The Challenge Of Bowling To Virat Kohli

CSK will now be facing Rajasthan Royals (RR) on September 22 while Rohit Sharma-led Mumbai will be locking horns with Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on September 23.