Mahendra Singh Dhoni is arguably one of the greatest finishers the game has ever witnessed. However, the former India skipper’s image has taken a beating in recent times.
Unlike his glorious past, the veteran batsman Dhoni now usually takes his time to settle down before going for the big shots. Not surprisingly, he faces severe criticism for his batting every now and then.
However, the World Cup-winning captain, on Sunday (April 15), showed that he has still got it. He played a whirlwind knock of 79 off just 44 balls against Kings XI Punjab and nearly took his team to a miraculous win.
Chasing a daunting 198, Super Kings had their back against the wall. With 67 runs needed off last four overs, Kings XI were looking like the firm favourites. However, Dhoni was yet to throw in the towel.
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From a position where only one result seemed possible, Dhoni took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners to revive the chase, Battling a stiff back, he turned back the clock with some glorious shots.
He was on 33 off 28 balls, with Super Kings requiring 65 off 21 balls. And then began the carnage. From that position, he hit three fours and three sixes.
The 36-year-old Dhoni struck Kings XI’s death-overs specialist Andrew Tye for 19 runs off the penultimate over. The equation was finally down to 17 from the last over. However, Super Kings could only manage 12 and lost the game by four runs.
But despite the loss, Dhoni is receiving widespread praise. And the latest person to lavish praise on him is none other than Kings XI’s mentor and his former teammate Virender Sehwag.
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The batting star Sehwag said that Dhoni has impressed him a lot and lauded him for braving back pain – to fight for his team.
“MS Dhoni is one of the players who have impressed me a lot so far in this season of the IPL. Considering his age and the fact that he had back pain, Dhoni decided to keep on batting against Kings XI Punjab. I think if there would have been any other player in place of Dhoni, he would have left the field and went back to the dressing room. But being the captain, Dhoni took the responsibility and stood there till the end,” Sehwag told India TV.
He further said that he was taken aback by Dhoni’s attitude.
“I was surprised not with his performance but with his attitude. Had it been any other player in place of Dhoni, he would have surely left the field. Dhoni was struggling to run between the wickets but he still batted till the end. The way he was hitting those sixes, it never looked as if he had a bad back. He never showed to the opposition that he was struggling. So, you have to give credit to Dhoni because if he wasn’t there, CSK would have lost the match by 50 runs,” Sehwag said.
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