Wednesday evenings was one of the rare instances when MS Dhoni couldn't quite ace the role of a finisher. Dhoni and Chennai Super Kings came close, as with 54 needed off the last three overs, he and Jadeja narrowed the equation down to 7 needed off three balls but in the end, against all odds, Rajasthan Royals pacer Sandeep Sharma nailed the perfect yorker to deny CSK and Dhoni a miraculous ending, and thus winning their IPL 2023 match by three runs. Despite cracking back-to-back sixes in the final over, Dhoni remained unbeaten on 34 off 17 balls, and although the CSK captain wasn't able to get his team over the line, everyone from raving about the Dhoni's surreal skills at 41 years of age.
After the match, Dhoni made a very interesting remark as to how he approaches such closes chases. Dhoni is not like AB de Villiers who has a bucketloads of shots up his arsenal. In fact, Dhoni's repertoire is pretty limited and mostly boasts of powerful hits. So on Wednesday, he when once again relied on his tried and tested methods, but it didn't pay off, Dhoni said during the post-match presentation as to how he backs his instincts and hopes the bowler will err.
"You see the field, see the bowler and what the bowler is trying to do, after that just stand still and wait for them to commit the mistake, if they bowl in good areas then good luck to them. I would wait for it and that is something which has worked for me, you need to back your strength and my strength is to hit straight," he said.
Former Australia all-rounder and a teammate of Dhoni at CSK, Shane Watson has weighed in on this interesting belief system of MSD's, explaining how it's a stark contrast to the manner in which Australians are brought up playing their cricket. Dhoni has always stood by his statement that he loves to take the game deep, banking on the bowler to succumb to pressure, but Watson reckons it's not a normal approach to a chase.
"MS' skills is at the top of the game. The last couple of years was a bit off. You could see that he was trying too hard but was just not able to get the ball from the middle of his bat consistently. This year, he certainly is. The thing that has always stood out to me about MS Dhoni is that he has a different perspective on chases, which is not normal but it's what has made him so good. His thoughts are that the deeper a game goes, there is more pressure on the bowler. So there is much higher chance of the bowler making a mistake in the last over. This means that if Dhoni stays calm, which he always does, he backs himself to win that battle," Watson said on The Grade Cricketer.
"Growing up in Australia, we were always taught, 'you finish, or try to do it as early and not let it get into the last over'. Whereas MSD is like 'I'm going to take it deep into the last over because there is much more pressure on the bowler'. MSD has done it so consistently. It's a different approach but so often he has come out on top. The other night he was so close, he got it so close. Sandeep bowled brilliantly and MS couldn't get it as well as he would have liked to but it was as close a match Dhoni could set up."
Watson added that he was almost certain that Dhoni would give CSK a glorifying finish, purely based on how much he had seen of Sandeep previously. Having faced the Punjab bowler several times in the IPL, Watson's memory of Sandeep was of someone who would get rattled and didn't come back. But what he and the world saw on that final ball was a different, much improved version of Sharma. The right-arm quick said how he was confident on bowling the yorkers having bossed the art in the nets, but to execute in a pressure situation and bowl three of them perfectly in the final over was simply outstanding as per Watson's own admission.
"I definitely thought that Dhoni was going to hit that last ball for six, needing 5 off the last ball. Just knowing how much pressure was on Sandeep Sharma, and the script of MSD doing it so often off the last ball. But Sandeep is someone I have played against quite a bit and he was someone you knew that once you got on top of him, he didn't come back. If you've got him for a boundary off the first ball, he will really struggle to close out an over," added Watson.
"But the beauty of it was Sandeep was working through it all the time. And it was brilliant to watch. Knowing his history - not just me but plenty of other batters playing against him - for him to be able to just zero in and nail two yorkers against MSD and one against Jadeja is what all about. Seeing people fighting demons and working on their skills and then execute against Dhoni. I thought it was going to be Dhoni writing his scripts again but Sandeep Sharma stood up and executed the balls under pressure."