Not that anyone had any doubts about MS Dhoni's cricket reading and leadership skills but if the memories needed to be refreshed then the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain provided an ideal demonstration for that by predicting that a dry ball will turn more, which immediately led to the dismissal of Jos Buttler from a Ravindra Jadeja delivery that spun past his bat. Dhoni’s brilliant game reading skills in the CSK vs RR IPL 2021 match impressed former cricketers Sunil Gavaskar, Scott Styris and Pragyan Ojha.
Chasing 189 for victory, Rajasthan Royals were on course with Jos Buttler going all guns blazing. The RR wicketkeeper-batsman hit a six off Jadeja’s bowling in the 10th over which prompted a ball-change as it had landed deep into the stands.
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At the start of Jadeja’s next over, Dhoni was heard in the stump mic saying in Hindi that the dry ball will turn. As astonishing as it may sound, the first ball of the 12th over pitched around leg stump and spun past Buttler’s bat to hit the stumps, leaving both Dhoni and Jadeja overjoyed.
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Gavaskar spotted Dhoni’s brilliance from behind the stumps and lauded the CSK captain.
{{/usCountry}}Gavaskar spotted Dhoni’s brilliance from behind the stumps and lauded the CSK captain.
{{/usCountry}}“The bowling changes he made (was brilliant). The moment the ball was changed after Jos Buttler hit that six and a dry ball came, he said it in Hindi to Jadeja that the next ball will turn and it did turn. Jos Buttler got out and then he gave the ball to Moeen Ali. A dry ball for a spinner… Again, brilliant captaincy from Dhoni,” Gavaskar said in the post-match show on Star Sports.
The legendary India cricketer further credited Dhoni for his field placements.
“Very impressed (with Dhoni's captaincy)… In his 200th match as captain of CSK, he was spot on with just about everything. The bowling changes, the field placements. Jadeja took 4 catches but apart from that, look at the number of boundaries he saved and that is so important, to keep the right fielders in the right position and Dhoni had that,” he added.
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Gavaskar was not the only one who spotted Dhoni’s advice to Jadeja. Former India spinner Pragyan Ojha said that changed the momentum of the match.
“And #MSD’s advice to #Jadeja changes the momentum in favour of #csk bowlers biggest cushion,” Ojha tweeted.
In the same over, Jadeja got another one to spin back sharply to left-hander Shivam Dube and trapped him LBW. Dhoni sensed that the spinners could now call the shots and he threw the ball to off-spinner Moeen Ali.
The off-spinner did not disappoint. He got David Miller out in his first over and then in his next, dismissed Riyan Parag and Chris Morris identically to sap the wind out of RR’s chase. Moeen returned with 3 for 7 in his 3 overs as CSK restricted RR with 143 for 9, winning the match comfortably by 45 runs.
Former New Zealand all-rounder Scott Styris said he did not even expect that the ball would turn so much in RR’s innings.
“I don’t think anybody would have expected the ball to turn as much as it did in the 2nd innings. But Dhoni read the game expertly, he deserved a victory in his 200th game as captain of CSK. Simply the brilliance he has shown for the franchise over the last 12 or more years and I think he is a bit more animated in this season, look at the way he celebrates the wickets, he knows how important it is for CSK to get back after last year’s performance,” said Scott Styris.