The Chennai Super Kings captain rolled back the years and evoked a great sense of nostalgia with a vintage Dhoni finish, helping his side win the final-over thriller against Delhi Capitals in Qualifier 1 on Sunday .
Dhoni blasted an unbeaten cameo of 18 runs off just six balls to propel his team past DC’s 172/5 with two balls to spare. Walking in to bat with his team needing a further 24 off 11 balls, Dhoni nailed three fours and one six to end the game.
Given the decline in his returns since last season, not many were giving Dhoni a chance as he arrived at the crease ahead of the more in-form Ravindra Jadeja. But the man showed he hasn’t yet completely lost his power-hitting game and intimidating presence at the crease.
Holding his calm, Dhoni exerted great pressure on DC pacers Avesh Khan and Tom Curran. He faced two dot balls against Avesh from his first three deliveries but struck a reassuring six in-between. Then Curran, whom DC captain Rishabh Pant surprisingly chose to bowl the final over, was taken for 13 off his six balls.
Curran bowled his slow off-cutter wide outside the off-stump with the plan to force Dhoni to hit to the bigger side. But the great batter still managed to take him down, hitting one brute four through extra cover, getting an inside edge onto one for a four through fine leg and then fetching a slow ball through mid-wicket to finish the game in style.
But Dhoni wouldn’t contest that the game was set up by a wonderful partnership between Ruturaj Gaikwad (70) and Robin Uthappa (63). While Gaikwad continued his rich vein of form for the season, Uthappa repaid the trust shown in him by the team management as they played him ahead of an out-of-form Suresh Raina at No.3. That 110-run partnership threatened to take the game away from DC.
After Uthappa’s wicket, CSK did lose their way a touch, with the wickets of Shardul Thakur (0) and Ambati Rayudu (1) falling quickly. Thakur’s promotion up the order came as a shock. Gaikwad, however, held firm at an end and stitched a 30-run partnership with Moeen Ali (16) before he also fell. Moeen was out caught trying to pull Curran for a six through mid-wicket at the start of the final over. But thankfully for CSK, Dhoni was there to do the Dhoni thing.
Choosing Curran to bowl the final over took many by surprise since the English bowler doesn’t boast of a promising record at the death. The decision from Pant fell under scrutiny, especially as lead pacer Kagiso Rabada (0/23) had an over left. Pant later explained that the idea was to back the bowler who was having a great day
Curran had picked up 3/16 before Dhoni took him to three different parts of the ground. And in a more lenient sense, the bowler didn’t do much wrong either. It is just that he came up against Dhoni of all people.
But another of Pant’s moves raised eyebrows as he didn’t complete the quote of left-arm spinner Axar Patel (0/23) as well and backed the inexperienced Avesh Khan (1/47) to bowl an extra over despite proving expensive on the night.
DC had batted well earlier in the day to take their score past the 170-mark with opening batter Prithvi Shaw (60) and Pant himself (51*) playing the stand-out knocks. Shimron Hetmyer once again contributed a very useful cameo of 37 near the end.
Pacer Josh Hazlewood (2/29) and spin twins Moeen (1/27) and Jadeja (1/23) were the pick of the bowlers for CSK and ensured that DC didn’t get those extra 5-10 runs, which could well have made a big difference at the end.
Brief scores
Delhi Capitals 172/5 in 20 overs (Shaw 60, Pant 51*; Hazlewood 2/29, Ali 1/27) lost to Chennai Super Kings 173/6 in 20 overs (Gaikwad 70, Uthappa 63; Curran 3/29, Nortje 1/31) by four wickets
