During the 24th match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Bengaluru, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, captain of Chennai Super Kings, played an evocative knock which made the memories of the yesteryear’s Dhoni afresh in the minds of the fans of the game.
After Dhoni won the toss and put the home team in to bat, Royal Challengers Bangalore scored 205-8 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Their innings was powered by AB de Villiers in its true sense, who ended up scoring his 25th IPL half-century.
Dhoni came in to bat at No. 6 after Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed on the last ball of the ninth over. Dhoni shared a match-winning 101-run partnership with Ambati Rayudu. After hitting Pawan Negi for a six on the second ball that he faced, Dhoni made his intentions clear from the word go. He appeared to be a man on a mission, a mission which would seal the chase for his team.
Corey Anderson became the second victim of Dhoni’s assault after Dhoni hit him for a six in the 12th over. In the 14th over, Dhoni hit a couple of sixes off Negi as Chennai Super Kings made its way back into the match. On the second delivery of the 18th over, Dhoni hit a towering six over the sight screen off Anderson to bring up his 19th IPL half-century, an innings which will be remembered for a long time.
He followed it up with respective sixes of consequent overs as Chennai Super Kings sealed a daunting chase with a stamp of authority. Adjourned as the ‘Man of the Match’, Dhoni ended up scoring 70* (34) with the help of one four and seven sixes.
Watch how Twitter reacted on Dhoni’s archetype innings:
What an amazing game #DHONI whatta hair cut and what a shot. Great game of cricket.
— VarunDhawan (@Varun_dvn) April 25, 2018
You troll him on social media, he trolls you on 22 yards. #Dhoni
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) April 25, 2018
But seriously. #Dhoni . 🙌🏻 #Thala #RCBvsCSK @StarSportsIndia
— Erin Holland (@erinvholland) April 25, 2018
And he has done JUST that!! #dhoni https://t.co/j416U80z4j
— zainab abbas (@ZAbbasOfficial) April 25, 2018
That last ball though!!! Take a bow!!! #Dhoni #CSK 👐🙏
— Aathmika (@im_aathmika) April 25, 2018
On The Way To All MS Dhoni Haters. They'll Need It Badly Tonight. Specially For Haters Who Were Calling Him "Credit Chor" Few Days Back. Keep On Burning, We'll Keep Delivering Burnols. 😂😇💛#RCBvCSK #WhistlePodu #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/jJRQSuKoNq
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) April 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/Irshad5676/status/989207539991523328
https://twitter.com/raknaSMART/status/989207704051707905
Unhoni ko honi kar de woh hai #Dhoni . Thala Dhoni again lives up to his reputation, Legendary finisher . #CSK wins a blinder again. Watta team #RCBVCSK
— Sumit Kadel (@SumitkadeI) April 25, 2018
#Dhoni – THE FINISHER!
— Ramesh Bala (@rameshlaus) April 25, 2018
Yassssssss!!!!! My fave captain cool #dhoni is a legit legend🙌🏼🙌🏼 What a match and a fabulous team effort!!!! #CSKvRCB #IPL11 #ipl @msdhoni
— Sophie C (@Sophie_Choudry) April 25, 2018
What an amazing game of cricket! 👏👏👏#CSKvRCB #dhoni
— Janani (@jananihere) April 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/I_Atheist_/status/989207594400190464
Haters : Dhoni is no longer the best finisher and a T20 player.
Dhoni : Hold my chai.#RCBvsCSK #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/bx9wOY0Obc
— Akash Jain (@akash207) April 25, 2018
That was outrageous. @ChennaiIPL #IPL #whistlepodu #Dhoni
— Isa Guha (@isaguha) April 25, 2018
https://twitter.com/AlexHartley93/status/985582535546720256
Rewind to 2 years ago… Same shot to finish the game…
What a Shot …..Beauty!!!!#Dhoni #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/YxanlbZMlr— Radhika Khera (@Radhika_Khera) April 25, 2018
#Dhoni has GOT to be the greatest player ever!!!!! I'm still shaking!!! #CSK
— Tina Desai (@tinadesai07) April 25, 2018
I can hear this picture of #Dhoni 🤘 #RCBvCSK #IPL2018 pic.twitter.com/yU85k0v3qT
— Amit Panchal (@AmitHPanchal) April 25, 2018
Thala 🙌🏾
— Carlos Brathwaite (@CRBrathwaite26) April 25, 2018
This wasn't just a last ball six. It had "My name is MS Dhoni and I am the daddy of all the finishers of the world" written over it. Thala. Forever and Always ❤️ #CSK #Dhoni #WhistlePodu #RCBvCSK
— Abbas Haider (@abbas_haiderr) April 25, 2018
