During his days as the India captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni often told his teammates that he was capable of pulling off 18 runs in the final over.
He had a simple formula to achieve this goal: A six in the first two balls, which meant 12 were needed off the remaining four. That was highly achievable, and more often than not, he managed to accomplish several miracles in this fashion.
That the ‘finisher’ in him isn’t done yet was in view at the DY Patil Stadium in Mumbai on Thursday when Dhoni scored 16 runs off the last four balls from Jaydev Unadkat to guide Chennai Super Kings to a three-wicket victory over the Mumbai Indians.
Dhoni’s whip off his legs past short fine-leg for a boundary gave CSK a glimmer of a hope as they registered just their second win in this edition. Batting at a staggering strike-rate of 215.38, Dhoni accumulated 28 not out off 13 balls, which featured three boundaries and one six.
“I think both dugouts would have been under pressure,” CSK captain Ravindra Jadeja said at the post-match media conference. “The best finisher of the world was in the middle and we knew that if he stayed till the end, he would definitely win us the game.
“I have seen many matches where Mahibhai has won the game for India and in the IPL too. It is good to see that he is hungry and in good touch. There’s a calmness in the dressing room whenever he is around.”
Even the legendary Sunil Gavaskar was awestruck. “At that particular situation, under so much pressure, only MS Dhoni could have done it. Not for a second did he think that he was not going to be able to do it. It’s amazing how he takes the game right to the end. He makes the bowler bowl to what he wants,” Gavaskar said.
The accolades flowed thick and fast even as the man himself remained calm and unperturbed. There was no celebration on his part as he indulged in offering tips to the youngsters of both teams immediately after the match.
Shane Watson, Dhoni’s former teammate at CSK, couldn’t hide his excitement. Now associated with Delhi Capitals as assistant coach, Watson said he was shouting from his bed while watching Dhoni take the attack to Jaydev Unadkat in the final over of the thrilling chase. “In my bed, I was shouting at the TV. It was awesome,” Watson was quoted as saying by The
Grade Cricketer. “That was a special game. It went super deep as it always does with Dhoni. He’s so calm. I wouldn’t be so calm.”
He said Dhoni always makes sure stress, tension and nervousness are not part of the dressing room.
“When you talk about whether he gets flustered or anything, the only time I have seen him a tiny bit frustrated was when we lost against MI in the IPL final in 2019. I saw him halfway kick his bag a little bit, just a tiny bit. You could see how much it meant to him,” Watson said.
“No matter what the situation is, he is calm. It resonates throughout the whole group. One of the most important things in a cricket environment is to take all the worry and stress out of the environment and that’s what he does because of who the person he is.”