Durban: Former champions Chennai Super Kings made an early exit from the Champions League Twenty20 but their key batsman Suresh Raina said that his side could have won the tournament but for a few slip-ups.
"It`s disappointing that we did not qualify for the semi-finals. I still feel we could have won this Championship. We had committed some mistakes, but we`re going home," Raina said after Chennai beat Yorkshire by four wickets in their last match.
Raina captained the side today with regular skipper Mahandra Singh Dhoni playing under him, and asked about this, he said, "MS told me to enjoy the captaincy, it was a good opportunity for me today.
"We bowled really well. The ball came on slowly, and it was holding a bit," he said when asked about the Kingsmead pitch.
Man-of-the-match, S Badrinath agreed with his captain`s assessment of the pitch, saying, "The ball wasn`t coming on. So, we decided to take our time, had a couple of partnerships and that`s what got us home. Once you take your time, you can play your shots.
"We were unlucky in a couple of close games -- 10 runs either side. But we`ll come back stronger next year," said Badrinath who top-scored for Chennai with a 38-ball 47 today.
Yorkshire captain Andrew Gale felt his side were 20 runs short while batting and that cost them the match.
"I thought we were 15-20 runs short. When we started to get some momentum we kept losing wickets, and we were sloppy in the field as well. Loved playing in the Champions League, thanks to the messages we got from our supporters," he said.
PTI
First Published: Monday, October 22, 2012, 21:55