Who Said What: World reacts to CSK's grand comeback
The IPL, and along with it the Chennai Super Kings, returned in style, clinching a nail-biting one-wicket win over the Mumbai Indians in the opening game of the 2018 edition. For the Men in Yellow, Dwayne Bravo was the hero, and Kedar Jadhav, the last-minute saviour, taking them past the line when everything looked bleak.
Dwayne Bravo was awarded the Man of the Match for his 30-ball 68 and an economical spell in the middle overs. While speaking at the post-match ceremony, he said "It was a great team effort and I want to dedicate the win to CSK fans. They waited so long for this moment. I'm happy to contribute to the team with a match-winning performance. The Super Kings have shown a lot of faith in me"
"At the Wankhede, once you bat deep, chances are you could win the game. It's a small outfield and the ball comes onto the bat. They bowled in my areas. Just happy with the win tonight".
MS Dhoni, leading the team for the first time since May 2015, said: "The way Dwayne Bravo batted was really good, it was nice to see him take the responsibility. I don't think we batted well as a team. It's the first game, and we'll take the positives out of it. Those will be more important for us in the coming games. The kind of players we have got, our selection will be horses for courses, where we'll see the wicket and then decide. We'll also keep an eye for players who are injury prone".
The losing captain, Rohit Sharma, appeared distraught: "I'm feeling low at the moment, but credit goes to Dwayne Bravo: he played really well, hit the right areas. We need to improve our death bowling, we were in the game till the 17th over, the last three overs didn't go our way, dew isn't an excuse. We knew with 165 on the board, we needed to bowl very well, but I think we still were 10-15 runs short".
Here's how the cricketing fraternity reacted to the Bravo mayhem and CSK's return:
Scott Styris
Michael Vaughan
Damien Fleming
VVS Laxman
Parthiv Patel
Irfan Pathan
Virender Sehwag