Chennai Super Kings (CSK) opening batsmen Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith once again announced their arrival in the Pepsi Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015, giving their side yet another good start. McCullum has been enjoying opening the batting with Smith for CSK; he lauded the latter for their understanding on the pitch.
The duo bludgeoned the Mumbai Indians (MI) bowlers while chasing a steep target of 184 runs. They put up an opening stand of 109 runs in just 7.2 overs until McCullum got out to Harbhajan Singh while trying to hit the ball over the long off.
"We did not really plan. We knew that the wicket was good, we knew that if we could strike the ball well, be reasonably positive, then we are going to give ourselves a good chance," said McCullum in an interview with the official website of IPL.
"We always try and play reasonably aggressively in this form of the game.
"Our role within the team is to get us off to a fast start and that's all we try and do. And when it comes off it obviously gives the team a really good foundation," added McCullum.
After McCullum got out, Smith continued with the destruction and briskly moved on to 62 runs from just 30 balls, which had eight boundaries and four huge sixes. McCullum praised his partner for his batting and felt that it is the right kind of start a team needs while chasing a steep target.
"I think Dwayne Smith today was sublime all the way; he managed to hurt MI from the beginning. While chasing a big score like 180, we knew that the wicket was good, but we knew that we had to play pretty well as well. And I think the way Dwayne started, we could give ourselves a good foundation and then the class players came in towards the end," said a delighted McCullum.
