S Dhoni’s first game back as the captain of the Chennai Super Kings was not without its fair share of action. The former India captain led CSK to a 13-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL 2022 match in Pune on Sunday (May 1).
Although Dhoni came up to bat in the No. 3 position, the CSK skipper failed with the bat, scoring just 8 runs. However, ‘Thala’ Dhoni marshalled his trooped very well in the second innings of the clash to lead CSK to their third win of the IPL 2022 season.
Dhoni looked a lot more animated than before in the IPL 2022 clash, and at one stage, was left fuming with young pacer Mukesh Choudhary, who delivered a wide ball in the final over of SRH’s chase.
It was on the third ball of the final over of the game when Mukesh angled it down towards leg side to Nicholas Pooran and unfortunately dished out a wide delivery. Dhoni was then spotted being furious at the bowler, pointing towards the fielders placed on the off side, probably indicating that he should have gone wide of off stump.
Choudhary after the match revealed what skipper MS Dhoni told him during the last over against SRH on Sunday. Notably, Mukesh Choudhary dropped Abhishek Sharma in the powerplay. He, however, made amends with the ball by picking up a four-fer and more importantly his wickets right at the edge of powerplay brought CSK back into the game.
SRH got off to a blazing start, smacking 46 off the first 4 overs but wickets on successive deliveries (Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi) in the 6th over hindered their momentum. Mukesh Choudhary in the post-match presentation talking about that 6th over said: “A wicket hadn’t fallen yet, so I had to take my chances, I knew I dropped a catch but I had to take a wicket and thankfully that happened.”
Dwayne Bravo didn’t play the match against SRH, on which the pacer said: “There was more responsibility in the powerplay without Bravo because he has so much experience, he keeps advising us. Yesterday, he told me I have to take more responsibility, the team environment is always very supportive.”
SRH needed 38 runs in the last over of the match. Shedding light on the 20th over, Mukesh revealed what MSD told him during those deliveries: “MS Dhoni didn’t tell me anything special about that over, he just told me to bowl stump to stump and not try anything fancy.”