Chennai Super Kings medium-pacer Tushar Deshpande, who bowled the final over in his team's 12-run win over Lucknow Super Giants on Monday, admitted bowling during the death overs is not an easy skill and that he is still learning.

The 27-year-old, while taking two wickets, sent down four wides and three no-balls in his four overs, leaving skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni unhappy and warning his bowlers to mend their ways.

“Bowling in the death is not an easy skill,” he told reporters after the match.

“I am still learning. We have a great death bowler as our bowling coach, Dwayne Bravo, and I am just trying to pick his brains. My role is quite similar to what Bravo has done over the years for CSK. I can’t fill his shoes but I am trying to learn slog-overs bowling skills from him,” Deshpande added.

“I think getting a chance (to play) or not is not in my hands. But what is in my hand is to make an effort and keep on improving day by day, so I was focusing on that.

"Personally, I feel when I keep on growing as a bowler, the opportunities will keep coming, and I just need to grab it with a cool mind,” he said.

Despite being wayward at times, Deshpande said he never lost focus. “I am a firm believer in the present... what’s gone is gone. Bowling no-balls is a crime in T20 cricket but if I keep cribbing about it, I might have given away 10 extra runs and the result might have gone either way.

“So I was just focused on making a good comeback. I kept telling myself that you can win the game for the team.”

He said he was blown away by the atmosphere at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. “I couldn’t hear anything. It was very loud, it was exceptional. I (had) just heard about Chepuak and today (Monday) I experienced it,” he added.

Written with inputs from PTI

Spin-happy Moeen

New Delhi: Moeen Ali said he has no issues with his spin being used sparingly by skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni after the all-rounder helped CSK to victory over Lucknow Super Giants at home.

The 35-year-old did not bowl against Gujarat Titans in the IPL 2023 opener, but claimed 4/26 on Monday in a high-scoring contest where both sides breached 200. Spinners Moeen and Mitchell Santner shared five wickets between them for 47 runs.

“I tried to bowl like I do in Tests and just spin it as hard as I can,” Man of the Match Moeen said. “They have big hitters so you don’t want to get it up there against these guys but we had a good (bowling) partnership so it was nice to get the win.”

Reuters