Dhoni looking forward to see more of Jakati's exploits

JOHANNESBURG, May 3 (UNI): Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni islooking forward to see left-arm spinner Shadab Jakati put up a few more more match-winning performances for the ChennaiSuper Kings as he did against the Delhi Daredevils here atWanderers.

Jakati claimed a four-wicket haul last night to spur the Super Kings to an 18-run win against Daredevils last night.

Spinners have been very effective in this season of the IPL and Dhoni said he was looking forward to see Jakati bowl in tandem with spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan to see his team into the semi-finals of the tournament.

"We picked Jakati ahead of Joginder Sharma as he wasn't in form.

The left-arm spinner lived up to our expectations.

It's good to see left-arm spinner coming into action in our team.

Hope he bowls in tandem with Murali and delivers for the team in the future games as well," Dhoni said after the match yesterday.

The Super Kings' skipper had no qualms admitting that the lower middle-order, including himself, squandered a strong base given by Suresh Raina and S Badrinath but was happy to see bowlers, especially Jakati, perform under pressure.

"We could have definitely scored some more runs towards the end to give our bowlers a better platform to bowl.

But our batsmen, including myself, Morkel and Oram failed to capitalise the good work done by Suresh Raina and Badrinath and fell short by around 20 runs," he said.

"But our bowlers came in good with some superb performance and won the match for us.

"Dinesh Karthik and David Warner were going great but Jakati struck at right times and changed the match in our favour.

He is a very good prospect," Dhoni added.

He said that back-to-back wins were a pleasure and since the second win came against a strong side like Delhi Daredevils, it was more pleasing.

Man-of-the-match Jakati was ecstatic about his performance and said he was just waiting for a chance to prove his mettle.

"I was waiting for my chance and today I got it.

The wicket was helpful and I bowled wicket-to-wicket.

"I had worked hard with my variations on the nets and tried the same on the field and it worked for me,' he said.

Meanwhile, Gautam Gambhir, who led Delhi Daredevils in Virender Sehwag's absence, said with the kind of batting line-up they have, it wasn't a tough ask to chase 162.

"It could have been chased.

Especially after the good work done by Warner and Karthik, it should not have been that tough.

Somehow we let our chance go.

"Their bowlers bowled well towards the end.

But we guys are playing well and we do hope to reach the semi-finals," Gambhir said.