Mumbai: Charismatic Chennai Super Kings batter Devon Conway has attributed his side’s performance in the Indian Premier League (IPL) over the years to “keeping your chin up” attitude, which he felt doesn’t allow emotions to get the better of players even after big losses.
The New Zealander added that despite the fact that the four-time IPL champions couldn’t hit their stride in this year’s edition of the tournament, there was no despondency in the dressing room, as everyone kept a smile on their face, not allowing defeats to affect them much.
CSK had a tumultuous IPL 2022 with Ravindra Jadeja, who was made captain before the start of the season, relinquishing his post before Mahendra Singh Dhoni came back to lead the side. Despite the upheaval, not much changed inside the dressing room, with the Chennai team going about its task in a professional manner.
Conway, the classy top-order batter who scored three half-centuries, including an 87 in the seven games he played for the franchise this year, said, “The rich history (winning four IPL titles) that we have in this competition, we wanted to make the playoffs desperately. Unfortunately, it did not go our way this year. We had periods where we were really good with the bat, ball, and with our fielding, but it just did not happen consistently for us throughout.”
He added that the team losing several close games was a sign that it was vibrant and not feeling “despondent” after defeats.
“The fact that we have lost some close games, we have not left the change room feeling despondent. The CSK way is to keep your chin up and keep a smile on your face and not let it affect you too much.
“Because if you do, then you allow those emotions to affect you in the next game, and then all of a sudden all your confidence is lost. That is probably one of the reasons why we were successful as a group in the history of the IPL. The guys keep constant whether we win or lose, and that is one of the things that keeps us moving forward,” added Conway.
Conway, who left the IPL bio-bubble for his marriage and returned to play some breath-taking innings, said that seeing the ‘Dhoni 7’ t-shirts everywhere inside the stadiums was a sight to behold and “pretty special” for him.
“My wife would say that probably because I am married now I had a good run of form but I think yeah at some point of your life you just feel content. You feel you are happy where you are at. You can just translate that into your cricket and play with freedom, and enjoy it. If that has got something to do with marriage, I don’t know. But, that is certainly the sort of form I struck after I got married.
“Firstly I would say thank you so much for all their (fans) support. You couldn’t ask for a better fanbase, and so we are very grateful to have all the supporters and the fans that we do, and just to see all the CSK T-shirts in the stadiums with ‘Dhoni 7’ on them was pretty special,” he added.