Till Saturday evening, MS Dhoni’s records and stats were just a number for the fans, as everyone had started doubting his skills. Even the owners doubted Dhoni. Well, why not?
The former skipper of Rising Pune Supergiant hadn’t done well enough to even sustain his place in the team but with his incredible innings 61 of 34, Dhoni did not just bashed the doubters but also regained the faith of his fans which was under a dubious condition before this.
He came in at a time when his team needed someone to score runs, as they needed 10 runs per over to win the game. The asking-rate increased, as Dhoni took his time to settle down but, as the team was approaching towards the target, the natural power of MS Dhoni to wrest the game came back, as he stole the limelight to produce results for the team.
It was the 19th over of the game which was crucial for the team, as the home side needed 30 runs from just 12 balls and that was the time when Dhoni scored 17 runs off five balls he faced from Bhuvneshwar Kumar, SRH’s best death over bowler.
A four on the last ball of the game off Siddharth Kaul and Dhoni showed that he still have that propensity to win the matches for the team from pressure situations.
Skipper Steven Smith was in all awe of MS Dhoni and heaped praises on him as he said –
Smith:
“Got pretty close towards the end there. MS did what he’s done for such a long period of time. When he’s under pressure, he comes through more often than not. Probably thought it was a 160-165 wicket. We probably didn’t execute our plans as well as we would have liked. Moises and Hooda played well too. Tripathi was very good at the top there. These are big five games for us. If we can keep playing like that, and climb up the ladder it will be nice.”