Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) fielding coach Jonty Rhodes presented Deepak Hooda with a Magic Mike award for delaying former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni’s onslaught in an IPL 2024 match on Friday (April 19).
While Rhodes gives this award to the best fielder after every game of LSG, he handed over the honour to Hooda this time around for dropping a catch.
With 22 balls left in CSK’s innings, Ravindra Jadeja miscued a shot to long-off, where Hooda spilled a sitter to give lifeline to the all-rounder.
After the game, however, Rhodes appreciated Hooda for dropping that catch as it delayed Dhoni’s arrival in the middle and prevented the CSK icon from facing more deliveries.
"I think it was a smart decision by birthday boy Deepak Hooda to let the ball go for a six, so that meant Dhoni didn't come out for another five balls," Rhodes said in a video posted by LSG on X.
Jonty Rhodes’ comment sparked a laughter riot in the LSG dressing room and Deepak Hooda also took the joke sportingly.
Here’s the video:
MS Dhoni came to the crease after Moeen Ali’s dismissal when 13 balls were remaining in the CSK innings. However, the veteran wicketkeeper made the most of those deliveries in the death overs as he returned with a blistering cameo of 28* in just 9 balls. His brutal knock, studded with three fours and two sixes, propelled the defending champions to 176/6 in 20 overs.
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 hosts 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.
