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Former Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni broke the headlines on a Sunday evening when he went mayhem in CSK’s clash against Mumbai Indians. The 42-year-old, who is in the twilight of his career, tonked three back-to-back sixes off MI captain Hardik Pandya in the 20th over and sent the Wankhede into euphoria. Notably after the carnage, he displayed a heartwarming gesture.
Dhoni gifted the match ball to a young fan at the Wankhede Stadium when he was on the way towards the dressing room. After taking CSK to 206 with his four-ball 20-run knock, Dhoni was quick to rush back to the pavilion as he was aware of the wicketkeeping duties he had to undertake in the second innings.
He walked onto the Wankhede stairs, picked up the ball and gifted it to a young girl in the stands of the venue. Dhoni then entered the dressing room to gear up for Mumbai’s reply.
MI were overpowered by brilliant defensive bowling. Although the hosts made a strong start with Ishan Kishan and Rohit Sharma, they lost their way and kept losing wickets at regular intervals. MI were at 70/0 in the first seven overs but then came Matheesha Pathirana with his slingy deliveries to outfox the batters.
He got Ishan Kishan on the first ball before removing MI’s last-game hero Suryakumar Yadav to send early blows to the hosts’ camp. The other bowlers complemented well with hard-length balls and some yorker-length deliveries but Pathirana took two more to be one of the key difference-makers in the game. He took 4/28 and was adjudged the Player of the Match. Just like Pathirana, Dhoni’s cameo also came in handy for CSK at the venue, where chasing scores is not difficult.
The fans went bonkers at the Wankhede to watch Dhoni turning back the clocks during the twilight of his career. CSK skipper Ruturaj also expressed his knock to have helped the Super Kings in getting those crucial runs at the end.
“The young wicketkeeper scoring those three sixes helped us a lot, that proved to be the difference. We needed those 10-15 extra runs for this kind of venue. In the middle phase, Bumrah bowled really well. I feel we were spot on with our execution with the ball despite them scoring some great shots,” he said at the post-match press conference.
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