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Chennai Super Kings (CSK) suffered their third defeat of the season against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by eight wickets on April 19 (Friday). Although CSK lost the match, fans in Lucknow witnessed a cameo knock by MS Dhoni. The 42-year-old legend smashed an unbeaten 28 runs off just 9 balls, helping CSK post a total of 176, but LSG chased down the total in 19 overs.
CSK head coach Stephen Fleming opened up about Dhoni's batting performance and mentioned the knee problem that MS Dhoni has been dealing with for the last few years. After winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2023, MS Dhoni underwent surgery due to his knee injury.
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"It's inspirational, isn't it? His batting this year even in training has been very crisp. The team isn't surprised with what he is doing because his skill level during the pre-season was very high. Other years he has obviously had problems with his knee and he is sort of recovering from that which is why there is only a certain amount of balls he can function well," Fleming said at the post-match press conference.
The CSK coach further discussed MS Dhoni’s role and the team management’s approach in utilising his batting for the death overs.
"I think everyone wants to see him for longer as we do but that amount of time is about right. We need him for the tournament and that 2-3 over cameo he is owning that space. It's up to the rest of the batting unit to get us to a good position where he can push us over the top. He is doing that pretty much every time at the moment which is great to watch," said Fleming.
MS Dhoni's explosive finishing in IPL 2024
The former India and CSK skipper smashed LSG bowler Yash Thakur for 16 runs in the final over. MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 28 runs off just 9 balls, hitting three fours and two sixes. With this, MS Dhoni scored 57 runs in the 20th over of the innings in IPL 2024. MS Dhoni has batted five times and remained unbeaten on all occasions, scoring 87 runs with a blistering strike rate of 255.88.
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