Three times an injured MS Dhoni made a key contribution with the bat for his side
MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) defeated the Delhi Capitals (DC) by 27 runs in a one-sided encounter at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai. With the result, CSK cemented the second spot in the league while DC are now placed 10th. As a result of this loss, DC are virtually knocked out of the tournament.
Batting first, CSK posted an above-par total of 167/8 on a slow wicket that offered a great amount of turn with the ball holding on the surface. The CSK batting effort was a joint one with most batters getting 20s.
Shivam Dube (25 runs off 12 balls) and MS Dhoni (20 runs off nine balls) headlined the batting chart as they scored their runs quickly on a rather sluggish wicket. For DC, Mitchell Marsh (3 - 0 - 18 - 3) and Axar Patel (4 - 0 27 - 2) were the pick of the bowlers.
In reply, DC could only manage a total of 140/8 at the end of 20 overs. It was a difficult day for the visiting batters as none of them really managed to put the CSK bowlers under any pressure. Manish Pandey (27 runs off 29 balls) and Rilee Rossouw (35 runs off 37 balls) tried very hard but scored the runs rather slowly.
Axar Patel (21 runs off 12 balls) was yet again sent too late to have any sort of impact on the result of the match. For CSK the stars with the ball were Ravindra Jadeja (4 - 0 - 19 - 1), Moeen Ali (4 - 0 - 16 - 0) and Matheesha Pathirana (4 - 0 - 37 - 3).
It was particularly inspiring to see Dhoni, who is battling a serious knee injury since the first match of the season, put in such a swashbuckling performance with the bat in spite of struggling even to run properly. However, this is not the first instance when 'Captain Cool' put his body on the line for his team.
On that note, here are three instances when MS Dhoni battled an injury to make a key contribution with the bat for his side.
#1 PBKS vs CSK, IPL 2018
Chasing a total of 198 against a strong PBKS attack consisting of the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Andrew Tye, Mohit Sharma and Mujeeb Ur Rahman, CSK were in all sorts of trouble at 56/3 in 6.4 overs.
MS Dhoni (79* runs off 44 balls), who was battling severe back pain almost single-handedly got his side to victory from an improbable situation. The keeper-batsman struck six fours and five sixes in the course of his whirlwind knock which came at a strike-rate of 179.55.
At the end of his game when asked about his back pain he said:
"The back is pretty bad but God has given me lot of power and I don't need to use my back a lot. My arms can do the job. It shouldn't be so bad. I am used to playing with the injuries. You have to be tough."
#2 KKR vs CSK, IPL 2019
Chasing a tricky total of 162 on a difficult wicket at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, CSK were in a spot of bother at 81/4 in 11.1 overs. MS Dhoni, who came in at No. 6 was battling back spasm. However, the need of the hour was that he supports the well-set Suresh Raina to ensure that CSK crosses the line and the Captain (16 runs off 13 balls) did just that.
Although his stay at the crease was a short one, he took the attack to KKR spinners. In the end, he fell in the 16th over but CSK had already been put in a match-winning position. Suresh Raina (58* runs off 42 balls) and Ravindra Jadeja (31* runs off 17 balls) did the rest as CSK won the match in the final over.
Speaking about his back in the post-match ceremony he said:
"Spasm. It is a bit tight right now. Hopefully, it will get better."
On his rather aggressive approach against the spinners he said:
“You have to be [aggressive]. We bat quite deep. When there’s a chance against a particular bowler, you have to take it. Can’t really leave too many at the end. Depending on the opposition and conditions, you have to keep changing your plan. Today was a day when I wanted to go after the bowlers slightly early. It paid-off well. It was a good chase."
#3 India vs England, 6th ODI, 2006
Batting first against a quality England side, the inexperienced Indian side was reduced to 79/5 in 15.3 overs. The Indian Team was without the services of Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid.
In such testing conditions, a young MS Dhoni (96 runs off 106 balls) who was opening for the first time for India, scored a quality half-century, falling agonizingly close to a well-deserved hundred.
In the scorching 44 Degrees Celsius heat of Jamshedpur in the month of April, Dhoni batted till the 39th over. Struggling with the heat and cramps, Dhoni was forced to bat with an ice pack on his back.
However, the ploy did not work as Dhoni fell the very next ball after putting on the pack. However his and Ramesh Powar's half-centuries (54 runs off 83 balls) brought India to a total of respectability of 223. In the end, England chased down the target with a little over seven overs left and five wickets in hand.
With that, we complete our piece on 'three times an injured MS Dhoni made a key contribution with the bat for his side'. Can you think of any other such instances? Let us know in the comments section below.