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Cameras were out. Phones were out with the flashlight on. The crowd was in all readiness to capture their superstar, their Thala ‘finish it off in style’ in the IPL 2024 match against Kolkata Knight Riders. Chepauk had been waiting for almost a year for the moment when MS Dhoni would step out to bat at his cherished venue and oblige the fans with at least a boundary, enough to make their tickets worth. But Dhoni being Dhoni, chose not to steal the moment away from new CSK captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, who single-handedly dictated the run chase, and let the opener score the winning run. Now where have we seen that before?
10 years back, in the 2014 T20 World Cup semi-final against South Africa, Dhoni, who came in to bat in the 19th over, took strike when India needed one run to win off seven balls. The then-India captain and his deputy Virat Kohli, who was on the other end of the crease, flashed knowing smiles at each other, with the wicketkeeper-batter a moment away from hitting another winning run for the country.
However, contrary to what he has so often done in his career, Dhoni decided to surprise world cricket by defending the final ball of the penultimate over to hand Kohli the strike. The top-order batter disagreed with Dhoni’s gesture, but it was all smiles at the end as Kohli scored the boundary in the first ball of the 20th over to send India into the final.
On Monday, Chepauk witnessed an exact similar. Dhoni stepped out to bat in the 17th over with CSK requiring three runs to win in the chase of 138 against KKR. The former Chennai captain defended the final ball of that over to hand Gaikwad the strike, but the incumbent skipper, who was the lone warrior in the run chase for the hosts with his first fifty this season, put Dhoni back on strike in the next over with two require to win.
Dhoni, who a few nights back gave a glimpse of his vintage self in his unbeaten 37 off 16 against Delhi Capitals, playfully defended the next delivery from spinner Anukul Roy before taking a single to put Giakwad back on strike. The opener, without wasting much time, smashed the next delivery through the off-side ring for a boundary and wrapped up the chase in style.
Chennai thus claimed their third win in IPL 2024, all of which came at Chepauk. They previously lost back-to-back away games – against Delhi and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
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