At the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, there was a loud cheer and then a quiet moment as the umpires ordered Shivam Dube to hold off in order to measure the height of the full throw. The reason for the roar for the wicket was not because it was the Gujarat Titans’ home game. Anticipation grew as we saw MS Dhoni on the pitch. It didn’t take the third umpire long to tell Dube to march. Dhoni entered.
Now, it didn’t matter what else. The state of the match. heading towards the postseason. The net run rate game… Nothing. It is only a man and his supporters.
Dhoni has spent the last two years of the IPL as one big festivity. Now it’s just routine. The knee issue prevents Dhoni from batting at full strength for longer than 15 balls, despite the supporters’ desire for him to bat further up the order. He batted eleven on Friday against GT. Sixes made up three of them. And not just any old sixes.
Dhoni struck a knuckleball off Mohit Sharma with one hand to score his first six. The Narendra Modi Stadium was practically vibrating. It was really that loud. However, Dhoni was only beginning. Even eight balls left with sixes would not have been enough to win with 53 to go, but who cares? Dhoni batting every one of them was what the crowd wanted. Almost, as he had to deal with seven of those.
Dhoni hit the first two balls of Rashid Khan’s final over into the stands. A helicopter shot was the first one. With his strong wrists, he gave the ball a spectacular spin while dancing down the track to neutralise any available turns.
Rashid pulled down the subsequent one. Dhoni wasn’t in good form, but he doesn’t need to be since he is in such good hands. Two hands on the handle, not even.
The third ball was not what was expected. Dhoni chose to defend it for an unknown reason, but it was a googly and struck his back leg. Rashid made a long, stifling protest, but the umpire rejected it with a shake of his head. Rahul Tewatia, the GT interim captain, sent it upstairs. The ball would have rebounded over the stumps, according to replays. Dhoni was expected to amuse three balls.
A fan ran onto the pitch in violation of security while the replays were being viewed on the screen. Before caving, Dhoni made a pretended attempt to flee the situation. The cricket icon touched the fan’s feet and then gave him a hug.
After two consecutive balls ended in dots, Dhoni completed the shot with a boundary to stay undefeated at 26 off 11. CSK was 40 runs short of GT’s enormous 232-run aim.
Captain Gill, who was left off of India’s T20 World Cup team, scored 104 runs off of 55 balls, and left-hander Sudharsan accomplished his first IPL century with a fantastic 103 off of 51 balls.
Daryl Mitchell (63), Moeen Ali (56), and others briefly threatened their score of 231-3 while they were batting, but Chennai was defeated at 196-8.
With a 3-31, medium-pacer Mohit Sharma got rid of both half-century makers.
Chennai’s defeat made the playoff race more competitive. Gujarat was slightly outside the playoff picture but needed to win its final two games by significant margins to significantly raise its net run rate. Chennai held the fourth and final playoff spot.
