Playing his first innings in the ongoing IPL season, former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni treated the fans with some of his trademark shots against the Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam on Sunday (March 31).
Dhoni, who came out to bat at No. 8 during the 17th over, opened his account with a first-ball boundary off Mukesh Kumar. He finished off the over with another boundary against Mukesh.
In the 18th over, the 42-year-old smashed Khaleel Ahmed for a six over extra cover. While Dhoni couldn’t replicate the same in the penultimate over, he launched an assault on Anrich Nortje in the final over of CSK’s innings, hitting two boundaries and a couple of sixes to return with 37 not out off 16 balls.
However, Dhoni’s unbeaten knock, studded with 4 fours and 3 sixes, went in vain as the defending champions suffered a 20-run defeat at the hands of DC. It was their first loss in three matches in IPL 2024.
CSK may have been on the losing side, but MS Dhoni’s was appreciated by the cricket fraternity on social media platform X.
Here are the reactions:
Coming to the match, DC posted 191/5 on the board after winning the toss and opting to bat first. David Warner (52 off 35) and Rishabh Pant (51 off 32) starred with the bat.
Defending the total, the Capitals restricted CSK to 171/6. CSK’s top order failed to step up on this occasion while the middle order batter failed to play big knocks to take the team over the line. Ajinkya Rahane top scorer with 45.
Mukesh Kumar was the pick of the DC bowlers, taking three wickets by conceding 21 runs in his three overs.
