IPL 2019: Had to keep in mind to at least qualify for top 2, says Dhoni

After the loss, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said once he realized that KL Rahul’s knock had ensured the win for the home team, his aim was to take the game against KXIP deep and ensure a top-two finish.

KL Rahul's scintillating 36-ball-71 paved the way for KXIP's successful chase of 171 in 18 overs against CSK on Sunday. On the other hand, Chennai are slated to play the first IPL Qualifier at Chepauk. After the loss, CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said once he realized that KL Rahul’s knock had ensured the win for the home team, his aim was to take the game against KXIP deep and ensure a top-two finish. "If you can't win a game, you make sure you get the opposition to get the runs in most number of overs. (Qualifying for top 2) Yes, and that's something you have to keep in mind," Dhoni said after the match. "We want to win the game, but if the opposition does well, you have to quickly adapt and re-assess," said Dhoni at the post match presentation ceremony. Dhoni applauded his bowlers for pulling things back and not letting KXIP batsmen finish the game earlier. "The first seven overs, we were quite down, but then the bowlers were able to pull things back a little bit. They bowled well in the last 8-9 overs for us." The former India captain said KXIP put on a good batting effort. "You need to give credit to them. They bowled really well. We had to get a par score, but it was difficult with their three spinners...it was difficult to manoeuvre in the first 6 overs. "Overall, it was a really good batting effort from their side. KL (Rahul, who scored 36-ball 71) batted really well and (Nicholas) Pooran towards the end was good with his lusty hits. We did whatever we could, it did not work for us." KXIP skipper Ravichandran Ashwin said his team would have to build a core group for the next seasons. "We haven't qualified but we have to build a core group to keep going for the next few seasons. CSK has a fulcrum of how they go about things, same with MI, Sunrisers Hyderabad does it differently. We have to look at that in the future. We have to post a score that you can defend and some of the best teams do that very consistently," said Ashwin. Man-of-the-match K L Rahul admitted that he finally played freely as his team had nothing to lose with KXIP already out of the play-offs race.