Mahendra Singh Dhoni gave a glimpse of the good old days of thrilling finishes but unheralded Rajasthan Royals seamer Sandeep Sharma nailed a couple of perfect block-hole deliveries to earn a three-run victory for Rajasthan Royals over Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling IPL encounter on Wednesday. Chasing a target of 176, Dhoni (32 off 17 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (25 off 15 balls), veterans of many such tantalising finishes were on course as 21 was needed off the last over. CSK`s final score was 172 for 6 as Dhoni didn`t end his 200th game for CSK in a manner he would have liked in his spiritual home with 30,000 plus spectators rooting for him.
Meanwhile, head coach Stephen Fleming in his post-match press conference revealed that Dhoni played his innings while carrying a knee injury. “He is nursing a knee injury which you can see in some of his movement, hindering him somewhat. His fitness has been professional. He comes in months before the tournament. He does some netting in Ranchi, but his main preseason is a month before he comes to Chennai. He works his way back into match form, and you can still see he is playing pretty well. So we always have confidence about how he manages himself. He always keeps himself up to speed,” said Fleming.
Also Read: 200th IPL match as CSK captain: A mark of MS Dhoni`s brilliance
Chennai reached 172 in 20 overs, despite Dhoni’s blitz in his 200th game as Chennai captain and his 59-run partnership off 30 balls with Jadeja. Dhoni hit three sixes; two came in Sharma’s 20th over. But the 29-year-old bowler did enough to hold his own against 41-year-old Dhoni’s finishing prowess. Later, the franchise shared a video of the skipper but eagle-eyed fans noticed that Dhoni was limping in the video.
A warrior. A veteran. A champion – The One and Only! 🦁
Full post match 📹 https://t.co/LuLJ13LVt3#CSKvRR #WhistlePodu #Yellove 💛 @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/dgsuPgT92y
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) April 13, 2023
Dhoni was felicitated prior to the match for captaining CSK for a 200th time in IPL by former BCCI president N Srinivasan in the presence of his wife Chitra Srinivasan and former TNCA president Rupa Gurunath.
