Dhoni denied strike to Daryl Mitchell in the final over of CSK's innings against PBKS.
Dhoni was questioned about his decision to deny Daryl Mitchell, one of the cleanest strikers of the ball in world cricket, strike in the final over of CSK's innings against Punjab Kings at Chepauk.
Dhoni faced three dot balls in the 20th over bowled by Arshdeep Singh. After beginning the over with a boundary through the covers, he could not connect a couple of slower ones from the left-arm pacer.
When Arshdeep bowled the third legal delivery of the over, Dhoni hit the ball to covers, but to the surprise of many, didn’t respond to Mitchell’s call for a single.
The Kiwi batter comically ran all the way to the striker's end before he was sent back by Dhoni. This act right irked many, including former India all-rounder Irfan Pathan, who urged the CSK icon to not do that in a team game.
"You will definitely talk about the six since MS Dhoni has a huge fan following. People love him a lot. However, the sort of knock he played, more was expected from him," Pathan said while speaking on Star Sports.
"He shouldn't have done that (refusing a single). This is a team game. Don't do that in a team game. The other guy is also an international player. If he had been a bowler, I would have understood it for sure. You have done that with (Ravindra) Jadeja and with Mitchell as well. You don't need to do that. He could have avoided it," he added.
In the penultimate delivery, Dhoni smashed a huge six into the stands in the cover region. He was run-out in the final delivery for 14 off 11 balls.
Irfan Pathan was also effusive in praise of PBKS skipper Sam Curran for the way he used Rahul Chahar in the 19th over to combat the MS Dhoni threat.
"Curran getting a spinner to bowl the 19th over was a masterstroke because considering the form MS Dhoni is in, he could have taken the game way forward in those two overs. He could have scored 30 runs in two overs but they didn't allow him to do that," Pathan remarked.
"You bowled to him with excellent planning. Although a six was hit for sure in Arshdeep's over, he also bowled well. He (Dhoni) has been unable to score runs against spinners in the last few years, which is why he is bringing himself down the order. He is scoring runs in the last over when the fast bowlers are thinking of bowling yorkers," he further stated.