Dhoni takes the blame for defeat

Chennai skipper Dhoni blamed himself for missing a stumping of Lasith Malinga whose unbeaten 37 off 18 balls took Mumbai Indians to a three-wicket win.

Chennai: Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings blamed himself for missing a stumping of Lasith Malinga whose unbeaten 37 off 18 balls took Mumbai Indians to a three-wicket win in the Champions League T20 tournament, here on Saturday.

"There is no one to be blamed but myself for tonight`s defeat. I missed a stumping of Malinga and we then gave him a lot of pace to score. We also gave away a lot of easy boundaries, something we shouldn`t have," said Dhoni. Malinga was on 18 with Mumbai needing another 32 runs in the final three overs when the Sri Lankan jumped out to left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati and missed. Dhoni, however, failed to gather and Malinga did not look back thereafter. "We now have to be at our best in the remaining matches and not repeat the mistakes that we committed today," said Dhoni. Mumbai Indians skipper Harbhajan Singh said: "Hats off to Malinga and the team. They showed a lot of character. I think, Malinga played the innings of his life today. "We were without three key players in Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Munaf Patel, but we fought hard and it is great to beat a champion side like Chennai Super Kings." The Mumbai Indians overhauled Super Kings total of 158 for three by scoring 159 for seven in 19.5 overs to script a shock win. IANS