Yet another day, yet another MS Dhoni finish. The 40-year-old proved he is still hungry and he still has the Midas touch by coming up with a stunning match-winning assault against Mumbai Indians at the DY Patil Stadium in a thrilling IPL 2022 match on Thursday.
Chennai Super Kings needed 42 runs in the last 3 overs when the ‘Dhoni calculator’ began crunching down the numbers. CSK brought the equation down to 28 from 2 overs following which Dhoni led his batting partner Dwaine Pretorious do the heavy lifting against a fiery Jasprit Bumrah. 11 runs came off the 19th over and CSK needed 17 from the last 6 balls.
CSK were looking down and out when Jaydev Unadkat got Pretorious out with the first delivery in the final over. The equation came down to 16 of 4 when Dhonii weaved his magic.
6, 4, 2, 4 — Dhoni turned back the clock to make sure CSK chased down 156 and collected 2 important points.
As usual, there were no clenched fists or punching the air celebrations. Dhoni raised his bat to acknowledge the applause from the crowd at the DY Patil Stadium before walking off the ground.
As the customary handshakes were being shared, Chennai Super Kings captain Ravindra Jadeja doffed his hat to Dhoni who responded to the gesture with his trademark smile. The heartwarming moment went viral on social media as Jadeja seemed to have echoed the feelings of a million Chennai supporters.
Jadeja conceded after Dhoni’s heroics that he was pretty nervous at the dug-out even as the former captain was scripting the run-chase. Jadeja could not trouble the scorers much as the out-of-form skipper fell for 3 from 8 balls, leaving CSK in a spot of bother at 106/6 in the 16th over.
“We were very tensed the way game was going. But the great finisher of the game was still there, so we knew we had a chance. He’s still here and doing it for us,” Jadeja said after Dhoni’s 13-ball 28 not out.
