MS Dhoni earned the reputation of a dasher during the early stages of his career. Over the years, his reputation changed from being swashbuckling to cool-headed batsmen. Having said that, despite the change in the approach, his ability to win matches for his side remained unchanged.
In the recent times, Dhoni has started to lose eminence of being a finisher. In both the Indian Premier League and international cricket, there have been instances when Dhoni took the match till the end but failed to win it for his team. Citing the same thing in mind, it will be interesting to see his batting position in this season of the IPL.
Here are five times when Dhoni failed to win the match for his team in the IPL:
5. Chennai Super Kings vs Rajasthan Royals (2008) – During the 49th match of IPL 2008 at Chennai, Super Kings required 212 runs to win the match against the Royals. Parthiv Patel (54) and Suresh Raina (45) had set the tone well for them. When Dhoni came in to bat at No. 5 (157-3), his team required 55 runs from 5 overs to win the match. With Albie Morkel at the other end, Chennai was always in the game. Dhoni scored a couple of fours to up the ante but failed to keep the momentum going. He was the next Super Kings’ batsman to be dismissed. He ended up scoring 12 (8) with the help of two fours as Super Kings lost the match by 10 runs.
4. Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians (2009) – During the first match of IPL 2009 at Cape Town, Super Kings required 166 runs to win the match against the Indians. They did not get off to the best of starts as Parthiv Patel (0) and Suresh Raina (8) were dismissed in the first and third over respectively. Dhoni came in to bat at No. 5 (70-3) in the 10th over. At the halfway mark, Super Kings required 96 runs from 10 overs. Dhoni saw wickets falling at the other end which led to a decrease in the run flow to the extent that Super Kings required 25 runs off the last over. Dhoni was dismissed by Malinga in the last over. He ended up scoring 36 (26) with the help of four and two sixes as his team lot the match by 19 runs.
3. Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Chennai Super Kings (2013) – During the 70th match of IPL 2013, Super Kings were set a target of 107 runs in 8 overs by the Challengers in a rain-curtailed match. With Chennai needing 79 runs from 4 overs, Dhoni came in to bat at No. 5 (29-3) at the halfway mark. He ended up scoring 24 (10) with the help of two fours and two sixes as Super Kings lost the match by a healthy margin of 24 runs.
2. Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians (2013) – During the final of IPL 2013, Super Kings failed to achieve an ordinary target of 149 at Kolkata. Chennai’s top-order collapsed big time as they were reduced to 35-4 in the powerplay. Dhoni came in to bat at No. 7 in the following over and remained unbeaten till the end, but failed to win the trophy for his team. In which was a one-man effort from that point onward, Dhoni ended up scoring 63* (45) with the help of three fours an fives sixes. Absolutely no support from the other end cost Super Kings the match.
- Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab (2014) – During the second qualifier of IPL 2014, on the back of Virender Sehwag’s second T20 century, Kings XI Punjab had set Super Kings a daunting target of 227 runs in 20 overs. Suresh Raina’s blitz saw Super Kings score 100-2 in 6 overs. This was a point in time when it appeared that Super Kings would win the match. However, a middle-order collapse saw their progress dent in a manner which even Dhoni couldn’t repair towards the end. Dhoni came in to bat at No. 7 in the 13th over and ended up scoring 42* (31) with the help of three fours and three sixes as Super Kings lost the match by 24 runs.
