MS Dhoni must have thought that the IPL 2019 final against Mumbai Indians was in his pocket when only two runs were needed off the final ball. Shardul Thakur had just scored two runs of the penultimate ball and Malinga was under pressure to win it for MI.

And he did with a brilliant yorker, he trapped Shardul in front of stumps and clinched the fourth title for MI and launched the fans of the Men in Blue and Gold into the stratosphere with elation. In the aftermath, it all came down to the dropped catches by CSK team and the two game-changing run outs of Shane Watson, when he was well set on 80 and Dhoni himself, who was short of crease by millimeters.

In the post-match conversation with Sanjay Manjrekar, Dhoni gave a short dissection of CSK’s journey in the tournament and the finals. He said, "As a team, we had a good season. But we need to go back and reflect. Wasn't one of those years where we played very good cricket. Middle order never clicked, but somehow we managed. Today was one game we should've done slightly better. It was quite a funny game, we were passing the trophy to each other. Both committed mistakes, and eventually, the winning team was the one that committed one mistake less.”

He was all praised for his bowlers though and said, “Our bowlers did really well. It was not a 150 wicket, but the bowlers kept us in the hunt. They kept getting wickets when it was really needed. Batting, someone kept chipping in and we kept winning.”

Talking about the plan for next year, Dhoni said, “To be consistent next year, we will have to really think hard. It's too early to say right now (about next year's plans). Up next is the World Cup. That's the first priority. After that, we will chat about CSK. Nothing against the bowlers, but the batsmen could've done better."

Manjrekar then asked Dhoni whether he be there in the next season?  To which Dhoni smilingly replied, "Hopefully yes."

(Cricbuzz.com inputs)