Steve Smith might have been appointed the skipper of Rising Pune Supergiant but a video that has surfaced recently proves that former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is still pulling the strings in the team. The incident occurred during the recently-concluded match between Rising Pune Supergiant and Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Batting first, the Pune-based outfit had scored 148 for the loss of 8 wickets. In reply, the defending champions began disastrously as both Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson were dismissed in quick succession by Ben Stokes, leaving them reeling at 29 for two. But their innings got back on the track courtesy of a 64 run partnership between David Warner and Yuvraj Singh before the former became Stokes’ third victim.
The home side found themselves in trouble again when Moises Henriques was clean bowled by Imran Tahir for only four. However, Yuvraj Singh’s presence was a big area of concern for the Supergiant. With 32 needed from the last 3 overs and Yuvraj batting on 47, the match was slightly tilted in the Sunrisers favour before Jaydev Unadkat came on to bowl the 18th over. The left-arm pacer made an immediate impact, dismissing the dangerous Yuvraj Singh on the very first ball. However, his good work was undone on the very next ball when Naman Ojha hit him for a huge six to brought down the equation to 26 runs from 16 balls.
The next three balls went for 4 balls before Ojha attempted another big shot but only managed to hit it as far as Ben Stokes at cover. And while the other players were celebrating the much-needed breakthrough, the left-arm pacer ran straight to Dhoni who was seen giving him some tips. Looking at that scene, one can easily figure out that the former India skipper must had said something to the bowler which led to Ojha’s dismissal.
And may be Dhoni’s valuable tips were responsible for Unadkat’s sensational bowling in the final over when he took a hattrick without conceding a run to finish with figures of 5 for 30 as the Supergiant defeated the defending champions by 12 runs.
Here is a clip showing that Dhoni is still the man to to seek advise when in trouble:
https://twitter.com/lKR1088/status/860895560966033408