Rajasthan Royals survived a late MS Dhoni scare as Sandeep Sharma held on to his nerves to deny the Chennai Super Kings captain a last-ball six in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match on Wednesday. Dhoni, who had already hit 2 sixes in the over, could not hit a third to take his team across. theline. In what was Dhoni’s 200th match as captain of the Super Kings franchise, he did roll back the years, showcasing he still has the ability to finish run-chases. However, after Dhoni’s side ended the match 3 runs shy of Rajasthan’s total, a 9-year-old tweet of Dhoni has gone viral.
In the tweet, Dhoni had written: “Doesn’t matter which team wins, I am here for entertainment”.
When MS Dhoni said this he meant it. What a knock Mahi, We Love You! #MSDhoni𓃵 #CSKvsRR pic.twitter.com/HWVMBN9WF1
— Sexy Cricket Shots (@sexycricketshot) April 12, 2023
The statement fit very well with fans on Wednesday night as Dhoni didn’t quite take CSK past RR’s total but he did provide plenty of entertainment with the bat.
Chasing 176 for victory, Chennai were 113-6 when Dhoni (32) joined Jadeja (25) and the pair put on an unbeaten stand of 59 but fell short of Rajasthan’s 175-8 by three runs.
Dhoni, 41, rolled back the years as he smashed Sandeep Sharma for two sixes in the final over with Chennai needing 21 to win from the last six balls.
But the medium-pace bowler, who started with two wides, kept his nerve to bowl two yorkers to deny Dhoni and Chennai a miracle as the hosts ended on 172-6.
England white-ball skipper Jos Buttler stood out with his 52, guiding last year’s runners-up Rajasthan to a total which was just enough for the team’s third win in four matches and sent them top of the 10-team table.
Buttler was helped along by Devdutt Padikkal (38) and Ravichandran Ashwin, who started slowly but smashed two sixes in his 30-run cameo.
Rajasthan’s spinners and Sandeep then combined to restrict Chennai, with Ashwin taking an impressive 2-25 including the key wicket of Ajinkya Rahane for 31.
Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal struck twice in one over, removing Chennai impact player Ambati Rayudu (one) and then New Zealand’s Devon Conway soon after the opener reached 50.
Rajasthan’s impact sub Adam Zampa, who came in for Buttler, was expensive with his leg spin but got the wicket of Moeen Ali.
Dhoni, the one-time premier finisher in the game, raised the noise at the MA Chidambaram Stadium with a four and a six off Zampa and more big hits, but the asking rate remained too high.
With AFP inputs
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