The skipper of the Chennai Super Kings, MS Dhoni proved why he is one of the best judgers of a DRS call during the opening match of the tournament against the Royal Challengers Bangalore. Earlier in the day, he took a correct call which sent back Navdeep Saini back to the pavilion. He had initially appealed for an LBW. However, he realized that Saini could have got an outside edge and he was proved correct in the Decision Review System.
A couple of overs later it was Ravindra Jadeja who persisted with MS Dhoni to go for the DRS. By then Royal Challengers Bangalore were staring down the barrel and Dhoni went with Jadeja but immediately nodded his head and gave an indication that he didn’t felt that it was out. Parthiv Patel was struck adjacent to the stumps but the bounce took it over the stumps which were indicated in the reply.
— KhurShah (@ShahKhur) March 24, 2019
The smile Dhoni gave after taking the review goes onto prove that he never wanted t go for the review but accepted his bowler’s call as Bangalore were already 8 down. MS Dhoni was at his immaculate best with his captaincy skills and made exceptional bowling and fielding changes. In the next month and a half, we will surely see some exceptional skills sets from Dhoni.
Meanwhile, it was a thoroughly professional performance by Chennai Super Kings as they won the opening match by 7 wickets and with 16 deliveries to spare. Veteran spin bowling duo of Harbhajan Singh and Imran Tahir wreaked havoc and finished with 3 wickets each. Harbhajan’s scalps included the prized wickets of Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali.
Ravindra Jadeja also supported them brilliantly and returned with a couple of wickets. RCB were bowled out for 70 on a pitch which was undoubtedly a rank turner and the Chennai spinners made merry. The Royal Challengers Bangalore bowled pretty well and took the match to the 18th over. A score of 70 was always going to be less and eventually it was Chennai who prevailed by 7 wickets and with 16 deliveries to spare.