Four-time Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) notched their second win of the season as former skipper MS Dhoni turned back the clock to script a memorable three-wicket victory for CSK against the Mumbai Indians (MI) on Thursday.
Needing 17 runs in the last over of the match, Dhoni hit one six and two fours, including one on the last ball of the game, to condemn MI to their seventh straight defeat in IPL 2022.
CSK's new skipper Ravindra Jadeja lauded Dhoni and went on to say that the former India skipper was 'is still hungry' for runs and wins after his 28-run contribution, "It's very good that he is still hungry (for runs and wins)," the new CSK skipper said after Dhoni's 13-ball 28 propelled the team to an epic win over their arch-rivals.
"His touch is still there. And looking at it, all of us remain calm, that if he is in the middle and stays till the final over, he will win the game," Jadeja said at the at the virtual post-match press conference.
Jadeja also said that although the match was seemingly slipping from their hands, Dhoni's presence gave the team a sense of belief, "We were tense but had a belief that he (Dhoni) was out there, he would finish the game and come. He has won so many games for India, that in the IPL, we knew that he would finish the game."
Dhoni smashed a six and four off Jaydev Unadkat's third and fourth ball, before keeping his calm to put one past short-fine leg for the match-winning boundary, leaving the Mumbai players disheartened. "Look we were in pressure and the way the match was going, I believe there was pressure in both the dugouts... As the world's best finisher (Dhoni) was out in the middle.
"Somewhere we knew that if he (Dhoni) stays till the last ball, then definitely he would win the game for us. We had the belief that he wouldn't miss the final two-three balls and luckily that happened," Jadeja said.
In pursuit of 156, CSK were at 106 for six, but South African all-rounder Dwaine Pretorius played to perfection before Dhoni finished the game. Earlier, CSK pacer Mukesh Choudhary wreaked havoc with the new ball, dismissing Rohit Sharma and Ishan Kishan for ducks, before Tilak Varma’'s responsible 51 not out off 43 lifted Mumbai Indians to 155.
Jadeja said despite not performing in the last couple of games, the team management decided to back Mukesh, knowing his ability to swing the new ball, "Yes, when he (Choudhary) was a net bowler with us, we had seen that he bowled well in the nets and swung the ball. His skill to swing the new ball is very good and so we backed him."
"He didn't perform well in the last one or two games, but despite that, we backed him, as we knew that he would take wickets. And luckily he bowled well, tried to swing, which helped him in getting wickets," CSK's skipper concluded.
