I can't thank Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni enough for their belief in me: Shane Watson

Shane Watson finally repaid the faith shown in him by Chennai Super Kings with a starring display against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday. The former Australia allrounder had looked off-colours in the first ten games of the tournament as he managed to score just 147 runs. A strike-rate of less than 113 pretty much showed that he was struggling to find his groove with the bat. But the Super Kings still persisted him and he did not let them down this time around.

The right-handed batsman looked a class apart as he blew away Sunrisers’ formidable bowling attack. Watson smashed 96 runs from just 53 deliveries with the help of 9 boundaries and six maximums. He was well on course for his 5th IPL hundred but Bhuvneshwar had him caught behind the wickets by Jonny Bairstow. Watson’s knock, nonetheless, helped Super Kings thrash the Sunrisers by 6 wickets and get back to winning ways after losing two consecutive games.

Put into bat first, the Sunrisers had scored 175/3 with David Warner (57) and Manish Pandey (83 not out) scoring fifties. However, Super Kings never looked in trouble during the chase because of Watson’s sublime knock. Following the game, Watson thanked his captain MS Dhoni and his coach Stephen Fleming for their support during his lean patch this season.

“I was due for runs, that’s for sure. I can’t thank Stephen Fleming and MS Dhoni enough for their belief in me. Most of the teams I’ve played in, I would have been dropped by now but they showed the trust in me. Of course, I was doing alright in the PSL and in the BBL too, struck the ball well. Needed some things to go my way, like it did today when Bhuvi was all over me. He is incredibly skillful bowler as he swings it both ways,” said Watson.

Dhoni praises Shane Watson

While Watson thanked Dhoni for the support, the skipper was quick to praise his opener too. Hailing Watson as a match-winner, Dhoni also said that the team-management was willing to give the opener an extended run.

“Watson has been a matchwinner for us. He has been batting well in the nets. Whatever small innings he played so far, he was middling them well although he did struggle a bit. This is the time when you need to back them. The management’s thinking was to give him as many games as possible. And the team winning also means that a player gets more games than he would actually get” said Dhoni.

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