Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) MS Dhoni walked out to bat at no.7 against Punjab Kings (PBKS). He entered the ground after skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad got bowled by Arshdeep Singh. PBKS stand-in skipper Sam Curran had saved one over of leg-spinner Rahul Chahar for Dhoni and the move worked. Dhoni scored just four runs from the penultimate over. He geared up to take the aerial route against Arshdeep in the final over. He wanted the strike and even denied single to Daryl Mitchell who was roped in for Rs 14 crore in the mini-auction.
In the last over, Arshdeep started with a wide. He followed it up with a low full-toss and Dhoni hit it wide of extra-cover fielder to hit his first boundary of the innings. He bowled another wide and then bowled another full toss. This time Dhoni could not find the boundary and denied a single to Mitchell. The Kiwi batter ran two runs as he barely managed to make his ground at the non-striker's end. A direct hit would have caught Mitchell short of the crease.
Arshdeep followed it up with a dot ball. On the penultimate delivery, he bowled another full toss and Dhoni dispatched it over the fence for a maximum. On the last ball, Dhoni was dropped by Harshal Patel at the short third man. He managed to stop the boundary and threw the ball to wicketkeeper Jitesh Sharma who took the bails off in a flash.
Dhoni was run out in an attempt to take the second run. This was the first time he got out in the season. The 42-year-old remained unbeaten in seven innings. Against PBKS, he scored 14 runs from 11 balls and took CSK's score to 162/7.
Dhoni’s run in IPL 2024 so far
So far, Dhoni has scored 110 runs from eight innings. His strike rate is an astonishing 229.17. His high score in the tournament so far is 37 not out.
Mitchell demoted to make way for impact player
On the other hand, CSK demoted Mitchell to no.8. When three wickets fell, impact player Sameer Rizvi went in to bat and scored 21 runs from 23 balls.
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