“Dhoni finishes off in style!” boomed Ravi Shastri in his baritone voice as the then India skipper cleared the wide long on fence at the Wankhede Stadium to take India to a memorable World Cup triumph in 2011.
On Wednesday, seven years after that famous night in Mumbai, history kind of repeated itself as MS Dhoni turned back the clock as he took his side to his side over the line with another stylish six in a pulsating chase.
The teams were different, the venue wasn’t the same, the only constant was an indomitable Dhoni.
A lot has changed in the intertwining seven years. Many believe that an ageing Dhoni is losing his edge. On Wednesday, he dispelled the notion with another masterclass as he smashed a 34-ball 70 to help Chennai Super Kings chase down Royal Challengers Bangalore’s target of 206 after his team was left tottering at 74/4.
Dhoni came in and got going almost immediately. He scored at a fair clip keeping his side abreast with the required run-rate. Ambati Rayudu (82 off 53) was going strong at the other end. Together the duo pieced together a game-changing stand of 101.
It was Dhoni, though, who conducted the orchestra. The 36-year-old showed off his understanding of the game not just with the bat, but also showcased his tactical prowess as a captain.
There were lessons to be learnt from what Dhoni accomplished on Wednesday. Especially, for Kohli who has struggled to replicate his success as skipper of the Indian national team to his IPL franchise.
Game-changer
At one stage on Wednesday, RCB were on course to a big total after being asked to bat first. AB de Villiers was in fine form hitting sixes at will. Dhoni re-introduced Imran Tahir into the attack. De Villiers had targeted the medium pacers till that point. He went after the spinner and holed out. Sensing a shift in momentum, the CSK skipper introduced a slip fieder for the new man Corey Anderson. The Kiwi all-rounder failed to read Tahir’s wrong one and edged it to Harbhajan Singh in the slip.
While Dhoni’s ploy worked in jolting RCB’s progress towards a huge total that would have inevitably taken the game away from CSK.
In the 2011 final, Dhoni had taken a bold step to promote himself in the batting order above an in-form Yuvraj Singh. The ploy worked and the rest is history. Dhoni has mastered the art since. Making bold decisions in the field has been his penchant. That they invariably work out are testament to his understanding of the game.
Kohli, like many of his contemporaries, has learnt these traits while playing alongside the Jharkhand lad. Over the past couple of years, the current India skipper has risen as an able successor to Dhoni. His proactive style has seen him enjoy considerable success. On Wednesday, though, though, he did not enjoy the same as he adopted a bold step to snuff out the CSK chase.
The opposition, in fact, were aided by the RCB skipper’s ill-judged ploy. Kohli had Umesh Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal bowl out their full quota of overs inside the 13th over. The two bowlers produced fine spells that saw concede few runs and drill in a several dot balls.
CSK, though, waited it out.
After coming into bat in the 10th over, Dhoni settled down and refrained from hitting risky shots early on. However, with the opposition’s two best bowlers out of the equation, Dhoni and Rayudu went into overdrive.
Kohli’s decision was perplexing as it comes during a season where RCB’s biggest weakness has been their death bowling. Also, as the opposition is being led by one of the finest finishers in world cricket, one would have hoped for a different approach.
Instead, Mohammed Siraj and Corey Anderson were given the unenviable task of seeing off the death overs. They seemed out of their depth and struggled to execute the variations that were required to keep the batsmen guessing at that stage.
Dhoni, Rayudu went after the inexperienced bowling. Between them, the duo smashed 15 sixes even as the total tally of sixes during the match rose to 33, a record in the IPL.
One of these sixes came in the last over of the contest as Dhoni took strike with five runs needed off three balls. Anderson bowled a length ball, much like the way Sri Lanka’s Nuwan Kulasekara had bowled back in 2011. Dhoni creamed it over the cow corner to complete a famous five-wicket win to not only take CSK to the top of the IPL standings, but also ‘restore’ his reputation as a master tactician and finisher.
