MS Dhoni may have retired from international cricket in 2020, but he continues to rule the roost in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

In CSK’s last match against LSG on Friday (April 19), the 42-year-old treated the fans with another blistering cameo.

Dhoni, who came out to bat at No. 8 in the 18th over of CSK’s innings, smashed 28 not out off just 9 balls with three fours and two sixes. Thanks to his cameo, the defending champions posted 176/6 on the board.

However, LSG chased down the target without breaking a sweat in 19 overs. Skipper KL Rahul led from the front with a whirlwind 53-ball 82 as the Super Giants defeated CSK by eight wickets.

After the match, Rahul admitted that his bowers leaked extra runs at the death as they were intimidated by Dhoni's presence in the middle.

"160-165 would have been ideal but yeah again its MSD (smiles). He walks in and the pressure gets to the bowlers. That's the presence and intimidation he has had over teams and bowlers. We have a young team and I think it was the first time they were put under pressure by huge figure like MS. Crowd was really really loud. But I still thought they stuck to their plans. He is a phenomenal player to still hit them for sixes. Yeah, 15-20 runs extra but we knew if we bat well we can chase it down," Rahul said at the post-match presentation.

It was a perfect outing for Rahul, who was spot on with his bowling changes and also grabbed two catches and affected a stumping before playing a match-winning knock to earn the Player-of-the-Match honour.

"Feels good at the end of the day, When you win, looks like you make all the decisions right," Rahul remarked.

"Impossible to get all right. Depends on the kind of wicket we are playing on and the kind of batters there are. We spend time doing homework on tactics and strategy and we spoke about them not settling against one style of bowling," he added.

During the chase, Rahul added 134 runs for the opening wicket with Quinton de Knock, who returned with 54 off 43 balls.

"Felt that if we bat well, we could chase it down. I have been trying to assess the situation and today it came off. With Chennai's spinners, they tried to put brakes on us," Rahul said.

"We tried to get to a good start. Tried to take them down, luckily it came off. When your partnership goes on, you can take a few more chances. Glad that it happened."

On the other hand, CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad admitted that his team was 10-15 runs short with dew coming in.

"We finished off very well, couldn't have asked for more. But after powerplay, we couldn't kick on till 14-15th over. We lost wickets regularly and were 10-15 short.

"Slightly difficult to bat but with Impact Player rule you need an extra batter. With dew coming on later, felt 180-190 could have been good."

Gaikwad also conceded that they were not up to mark while bowling in the powerplay as the LSG openers took the game away from them.

"[Bowling in the powerplay] is one area we would like to improve, puts opposition on the back foot if we can get wickets in the powerplay. Good to play them again soon, will come back with homework done," he said.

(With PTI Inputs)