Shardul Thakur was 12 cm short of his crease. (BCCI/IPL)MS Dhoni and last ball finishes go hand in glove and more often than not the CSK skipper emerges on the winning side. However, Dhoni finally ran out of luck when he attempted to pull off another impossible chase against RCB on Sunday.
Chasing 162, CSK needed an improbable 26 off the last over. But MS Dhoni had other ideas. He began the over with a four and then deposited the next delivery out of the ground. The third ball went for another maximum as the equation came down to 10 off 3 balls. A quick double brought it down to 8 off 2 balls. A fierce swipe took the fourth ball over the mid-wicket boundary for yet another maximum.
But with 2 needed off the last ball, Umesh Yadav bowled a slower one and Parthiv Patel did an MS Dhoni to effect a run-out as non-striker Shardul Thakur was 12 cm short of his crease. In the end, it was Dhoni (84 not out off 48 balls) who lost to RCB. The nailbiting finish left fans and pundits in awe. Here are some of the best reactions –
Uff! Some game! Cricket needs Dhoni to write its scripts.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) 21 April 2019
Wattaa game… real thriller #RCBvsCSK
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) 21 April 2019
Wow! What a fantastic game of cricket #RCBvCSK
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) 21 April 2019
That was a finish for the ages. Unreal hitting from Dhoni followed by an out of the world throw from Parthiv Patel #RCBvsCSK
— Gautam Bhimani (@gbhimani) 21 April 2019
Unbelievable scenes in Bengaluru!@RCBTweets win by 1 run in an absolutely thrilling last over 🙌🔥#RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/6Q4sQt9Jkh
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) 21 April 2019
What a player M.S.Dhoni. Outstanding, brilliant 👏🏻🙌🏻@ChennaiIPL @IPL #RCBvCSK
— Anjum Chopra (@chopraanjum) 21 April 2019
Take a breathe! Amazing @IPL cricket #RCBvCSK
— Graeme Smith (@GraemeSmith49) 21 April 2019
What a throw in the end. Whoa. My Man Of The Match is Parthiv Patel. 🤗🙏 #RCBvCSK #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) 21 April 2019
For all practical reasons that was a SUPER match and will go down in history as a legendary one! Thank you THALA! This is incredible! #WhistlePodu #Yellove #RCBvCSK 🦁💛
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) 21 April 2019
Speaking after the match, MS Dhoni explained his mindset at the crease and said, “I think it was more of a calculation mistake that we lost wickets early on. T20 is all about taking risks, but you can still calculate. I think it was still difficult at death if you bowl that back of the length. It was slightly spongy, it wasn’t coming on to the bat. A lot of boundaries were needed, right now you can calculate, one run there, and two runs there and we just lost by one run. But you can also say we missed some boundaries.”
