Former India player Sanjay Manjrekar sang laurels of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni’s stumping of Gujarat Titans (GT) opener Shubman Gill in the IPL 2023 final and termed it the ‘most brilliant of them all’.
GT was put into bat first after Dhoni won the toss and Wriddhiman Saha and Shubman Gill had given the 2022 IPL winners a great start. He had made 39 runs and added 67 with Saha in 7 overs. GT went on to make 214/4 with Saha making 54 and Sai Sudharsan making 96.
Gill missed a straight delivery from Ravindra Jadeja and Dhoni finished the dismissal with a reaction time of around 0.1 seconds.
Manjrekar was all praise as he hailed it as Dhoni's best-ever stumping.
“I have seen these brilliant stumpings of Dhoni over the years. It is mostly when the ball is few inches away from the stumps and he collects it very close. He does not do what you are taught in school that collect the ball first. He keeps his gloves close and takes the bails off. We all know that Dhoni does stumpings the fastest but what we saw today with Shubman Gill was the most special of all Dhoni stumpings,” Manjrekar explained on ESPNCricinfo after the match.
“Jadeja is a quick bowler. So there is the collection part but today, they was nothing. There was a slight movement and the bails were off. Maybe he was aware of the importance of the wicket. There was a great moment when Jadeja was unsure if he had got the stumping. He walked towards Dhoni and asked if the batsman was out and Dhoni just confidently nodded,” he added.
CSK was given a revised target of 171 in 15 overs after rain interrupted the reserve day as well. The yellow army managed to chase down the total on the last ball and won their record-equalling fifth IPL title by defeating GT by five wickets.
