Rajat Patidar follows Gautam Gambhir’s attacking act against MS Dhoni in CSK vs RCB, fans say ‘new villain is born'
Fans reacted to how Rajat Patidar set an uber-attacking field for MS Dhoni, a la Gautam Gambhir.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru wrapped up a historically dominant win over Chennai Super Kings, handing the hosts the biggest ever margin of loss they have suffered in Chennai in the history of the IPL. One of the bigger shocks during the match was seeing MS Dhoni demoted all the way to number nine, behind Ravinchandran Ashwin and to an extent Ravindra Jadeja.
The match was already all but lost when Dhoni arrived at the crease, but RCB captain Rajat Patidar made waves by taking inspiration from an IPL captain of the past. Patidar nearly recreated an iconic IPL moment, in which then-KKR captain Gautam Gambhir set an uber-attacking field when MS Dhoni came to the crease during his Rising Pune Supergiant days.
Fans were very quick to react to this, as they shared images of Patidar’s short leg and slip for Dhoni’s first ball in Chepauk on Friday night. Dhoni played a calm defensive shot off that delivery against Liam Livingstone, but with RCB in no major risk of losing, that was a positive outcome for the visitors.
Dhoni late flurry as consolation
Dhoni ended up with 30* off 16 deliveries at the end of CSK’s innings, but it was largely a consolation knock as Patidar had Krunal Pandya deliver the final over ahead of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who would likely have done so if the match wasn’t already out of hand.
Dhoni struck two maximums and one boundary, but it was nevertheless a very tame loss for CSK at home, as they lost by 50 runs. Rajat Patidar himself earned the player of the match honours for his brisk first innings half-century. Later, while the players were shaking hands, Patidar made sure to pay Dhoni his dues, as he doffed his hat at him while shaking hands on the pitch.
Patidar in his first season has guided RCB to only the third time they have begun an IPL campaign with consecutive wins, as the team from Bangalore now sit top of the table with a very comfortable net run-rate. Meanwhile, CSK slide down a touch, but remain in the top four on NRR themselves.
The next set of matches for these teams will see CSK face off against Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on Sunday night, while RCB prepare to host their first home match of the season, against Gujarat on Wednesday.
