Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni blamed himself for the three-wicket loss to Mumbai Indians in their Champions League Twenty20 opener on Saturday, saying had he not missed Lasith Malinga's stumping chance the home team would have won the match.
Dhoni missed an easy stumping chance of Malinga off Shadab Jakati's bowling in the 17th over with Mumbai still needing 32 runs for victory.
Malinga later single-handedly turned the match on its head for Mumbai with a quickfire 18-ball 37-run unbeaten knock to hand his side a thrilling three wicket win over the defending champions.
"The missed stumping, cost us the match. We should have taken the pace off the ball when Malinga got going. Hopefully in the coming games, we won't repeat the mistakes," a visibly disappointed Dhoni said after the match.
Mumbai Indians stand-in skipper Harbhajan Singh, who gave good support to Malinga from the other end with an unbeaten 19, heaped praise on the Sri Lankan for single-handedly taking his side to victory.
"In my mind I was just thinking, give the strike to Malinga. Chennai got runs on the board, it was a difficult task for us. But Malinga played the innings of his life," he said.
