Dhoni who clobbered an unbeaten 70 to steer Chennai Super Kings past a massive 206-run target set by Royal Challengers Bangalore in what was their another last-over thriller of a showdown. And with that vintage innings on Wednesday evening at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Dhoni stumbled a few records, some of his own as well.
Slogging the fuller delivery over deep mid-wicket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni completed yet another chase that reminded everyone of his finishing prowess. But it wasn't one of those usual T20 chases! It was a heist, at its best, scripted with patience and aggression, all by Dhoni who clobbered an unbeaten 70 to steer Chennai Super Kings past a massive 206-run target set by Royal Challengers Bangalore in what was their another last-over thriller of a showdown. And with that vintage innings on Wednesday evening at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Dhoni stumbled a few records, some of his own as well. Putting Virat Kohli's side to bat first after winning the toss, CSK faced the onslaught of AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock who both notched up their respective fifty-plus scores after the early departure of the skipper. And so, on a slightly slowish wicket, RCB took their score to 205 at the loss of eight wickets. Eyeing the massive target, Chennai stuttered right from the start to as Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav weaved magic to reduce the two-time IPL champions to 74 for four at the end of nine overs. Ambati Rayadu held hope for the visitors, but couldn't do much with wickets tumbling the other side. Enters Dhoni and things changed around! In his second ball, he sent Pawan Negi hovering over the sightscreen for a six thus setting up a momentum for his side in what seemed to be a Mission Impossible for they needed 93 off 41. The duo then set up a carnival of sixes at Chinnaswamy Stadium to add a blistering 101-run stand to rescue CSK. With 33 needed off the next 13 deliveries, Rayudu departed off a run-out. The end was iced by Dwayne Bravo and Dhoni with the latter inflicting his classic finishing move to push CSK back to the top of the points table. En route to his unbeaten 70, Dhoni became the first T20 batsman to score 5000 runs at skipper. His score on Wednesday evening is also his second fifty-plus score in this IPL season, achieving this very mark after a span of five years. Dhoni's other score was an unbeaten 79 against KXIP which had gone in vain. The veteran's seven sixes compared to one boundary also eluded him past his own six-hitting record in an IPL innings. "I thought when we had the innings break this was difficult to chase because when I was keeping, I felt AB batted well to get them to 200 runs and it was tough to score. I thought it was 15-20 beyond par score. The key for us was the two left-handers but we lost them early. Just had to hang around there. This is a small ground, ball travels and there was just a bit of dew and it worked in our favour. Rayudu batted really well. Got a very good partnership and then Bravo striking at the end, overall it went perfectly according to the script," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation.
Slogging the fuller delivery over deep mid-wicket, Mahendra Singh Dhoni completed yet another chase that reminded everyone of his finishing prowess. But it wasn't one of those usual T20 chases! It was a heist, at its best, scripted with patience and aggression, all by Dhoni who clobbered an unbeaten 70 to steer Chennai Super Kings past a massive 206-run target set by Royal Challengers Bangalore in what was their another last-over thriller of a showdown. And with that vintage innings on Wednesday evening at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Dhoni stumbled a few records, some of his own as well. Putting Virat Kohli's side to bat first after winning the toss, CSK faced the onslaught of AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock who both notched up their respective fifty-plus scores after the early departure of the skipper. And so, on a slightly slowish wicket, RCB took their score to 205 at the loss of eight wickets. Eyeing the massive target, Chennai stuttered right from the start to as Yuzvendra Chahal and Umesh Yadav weaved magic to reduce the two-time IPL champions to 74 for four at the end of nine overs. Ambati Rayadu held hope for the visitors, but couldn't do much with wickets tumbling the other side. Enters Dhoni and things changed around! In his second ball, he sent Pawan Negi hovering over the sightscreen for a six thus setting up a momentum for his side in what seemed to be a Mission Impossible for they needed 93 off 41. The duo then set up a carnival of sixes at Chinnaswamy Stadium to add a blistering 101-run stand to rescue CSK. With 33 needed off the next 13 deliveries, Rayudu departed off a run-out. The end was iced by Dwayne Bravo and Dhoni with the latter inflicting his classic finishing move to push CSK back to the top of the points table. En route to his unbeaten 70, Dhoni became the first T20 batsman to score 5000 runs at skipper. His score on Wednesday evening is also his second fifty-plus score in this IPL season, achieving this very mark after a span of five years. Dhoni's other score was an unbeaten 79 against KXIP which had gone in vain. The veteran's seven sixes compared to one boundary also eluded him past his own six-hitting record in an IPL innings. "I thought when we had the innings break this was difficult to chase because when I was keeping, I felt AB batted well to get them to 200 runs and it was tough to score. I thought it was 15-20 beyond par score. The key for us was the two left-handers but we lost them early. Just had to hang around there. This is a small ground, ball travels and there was just a bit of dew and it worked in our favour. Rayudu batted really well. Got a very good partnership and then Bravo striking at the end, overall it went perfectly according to the script," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation.
