Home
Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023's current Purple Cap holder Mark Wood is still in awe of the legendary MS Dhoni's blitzkrieg at Chepauk on April 3. Having snared a fantastic fifer in his opening game against Delhi Capitals, Wood followed it up with another exceptional three-fer to take his wicket tally to eight to become the leading wicket taker so far in the tournament. But despite achieving the glory in just two matches in IPL, Wood is struggling to forget what happened at Chepauk with Dhoni standing in front of him with an intent to bash every ball out of the park which came his way.
Wood was well in control while bowling to CSK's dazzling duo of Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway. But what happened in Wood's last over was something the tearaway English bowler was not prepared for. Woods was in all sorts of bother when Dhoni took to crease in the last over of the CSK's innings.
The entire drama lasted for just three balls but gave Wood a hint of a nightmare which took him aback and the 33-year-old is still in awe of it. Wood, who is known for his pace, accuracy and ability to extract movement off the deck, was hammered for two big sixes in the first two balls itself. CSK's talismanic batter put one of the finest bowlers of current era under the pump with his absolute carnage with the bat. Dhoni, however got dismissed by the same bowler in the third ball after scoring a three-ball 12, but certainly etched something in Wood's memory for the time to come.
Meanwhile, after the match Wood, who made his IPL debut for CSK in IPL 2018 under Dhoni's captaincy, revealed that despite going by the plan he had no answer to Dhoni's blitz. He said he bowled exactly where LSG captain KL Rahul and he had planned but things didn't go their way.
"I and KL were talking. We were trying to stay calm and trying to work out how to get him out. In my mind, I was not trying to be defensive. I was actually thinking of ways to stop him from scoring runs and get him out. Unfortunately, it cost me 12 runs. But, that second shot in particular was an amazing shot. I bowled it exactly where KL and I decided. Get a bouncer and get it wide so that he has to fetch it if he is to take it. For him to hit it that far was pretty incredible," Wood said.
"The noise when he came out to bat and then when he hit those two balls were definitely the loudest I have played in front of. It was eye-opening but it was a great experience to look back," Wood further added.
Despite scoring mere 12 runs, Dhoni became first wicketkeeper-batter to complete 5000 runs in the history of IPL. CSK went on to beat LSG by 12 runs after posting a colossal 218-run target which the KL Rahul's men failed to achieve.
ALSO READ:
IPL 2023: Further blow to Punjab Kings, pinch-hitting Englishman continues to be sidelined by ECB
Chelsea's tryst with its exes continues; bring back former gaffer Frank Lampard as caretaker manager for rest of the season
