Bengaluru, April 18 (IANS) After a close eight-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in a high-scoring IPL 2023 match in Bengaluru, Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni revealed that he keeps assessing the situation from behind the wicket and is involved in what needs to be done rather than thinking about the result, which helped him controlled the game despite Glenn Maxwell and Faf Du Plessis going all guns blazing.

Devon Conway slammed 83 off 45 deliveries while Shivam Dube blazed away to a 27-ball 52 as CSK posted an imposing 226/6 after being asked to bat first. In reply, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis (62 off 33 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (76 off 36) gave a scare to CSK till they were at the crease, sharing 126 runs for the third wicket to raise hopes of a famous win.

However, CSK bowlers held their nerve and survived Maxwell and Du Plessis blitzes to win the Match 24 of IPL 2023 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium by 8 runs on Monday night.

"When you come to Bangalore, you know it's a good wicket. Early part of the IPL you get a lot of dew. You want to start well and then alter whatever is there in your mind. It was slightly tacky to start off. It's important to go through that and then look to accelerate. We kept it simple and tried to get as much as possible in the second half of the game," said Dhoni after the game.

"Whenever you score 220, the batsmen need to keep on hitting. If Faf and Maxi had continued, they would have won it by the 18th over. I keep assessing from behind the wicket, I am always involved in what needs to be done rather than thinking about the result," he added.

Dhoni also praised Shivam Dube for his brisk innings, saying that the left-hander is a clean hitter against the spinners.

"He is someone who can hit very cleanly. He has an issue with the fast bowlers but he's a clean hitter against the spinners. We had certain plans for him but once he arrived for our camp, he was injured. So we couldn't do a lot of work," the CSK skipper said.

We feel that he's somebody who can deliver and who can get those extra runs in the middle overs. He needs to believe in that more than us. We know he has the talent, but once you cross the boundary ropes into the field you are on your own," he added.

The 41-year old mentioned that death-bowling is a difficult task for the youngsters, especially with the dew around.

"It (death bowling) is a difficult one for the youngsters, especially at this time of the year with the dew around. But they are working hard. Bravo is one of the specialists. Under him, the bowlers will gain confidence. It's a team game. The coach, the bowling coach and the senior players guide them," said Dhoni.

Bhopal/New Delhi, April 17 (IANS) Haryana teenager Shiva Narwal clinched the men's 10m air pistol T3 trial at the M.P. State Shooting Academy Range HERE, even as Uttar Pradesh's (U.P) Neha emerged triumphant in the women's event on the penultimate day of the National Selection Trials for Group A Rifle and Pistol shooters.

Shiva Narwal outgunned Punjab's Arjun Singh Cheema 17-7 in the gold medal match while Neha overcame Rhythm Sangwan 17-9 in the women's title decider.

Shiva also topped the qualification round by posting a score of 582. In the ranking round, he topped yet again with 252.9 after 25 shots. Arjun was second with 252.4 and eventually settled for the same overall spot.

Neha took a tougher route to her victory. She qualified eighth with a score of 573. In fact, the top three were the bottom three in qualifying with Haryana's Rhythm shooting 573 for seventh place and state-mate Yashaswini Deswal posting a 574 to claim the sixth qualifying spot.

Rhythm then topped the ranking round with a 251.6, way ahead of Neha who followed her to the gold medal match with a 248.3 as Yashaswini came third with 246.9. In the decider, however, Neha managed to turn the tables on Rhythm to come out on top.

Among the juniors, Urva Chaudhary scripted yet another win for U.P. over Haryana by taking the junior women's 10m air pistol T3 trial with a 16-10 win against Lakshita. The junior men's final was a nerve-wracking one with Rajasthan's Amit Sharma putting it across yet another Haryana shooter Samrat Rana 17-15.

LAKSHYA, AADYA AHEAD IN TRAP

In New Delhi's Dr. Karni Singh Shooting range, the venue of the T3 Shotgun trials, Jakarta Asiad silver medallist Lakshay Sheoran was leading the men's Trap field after Day One of qualification, ending with two perfect rounds of 25 for a score of 74.

Bakhtyaruddin Malek trailed him on countback but had the same score. Aadya Tripathi also shot the same score in the women's trap to lead that field ahead of Manish Keer (72) and Pragati Dubey (72).