“It was beautiful, wasn’t it?” Stephen Fleming must have had a glint in his eyes when he talked about the one-handed six by MS Dhoni against Anrich Nortje in Dhoni’s first innings of IPL 2024.
Having not been needed with the bat in CSK’s first two matches, MS Dhoni strode out against Delhi Capitals at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, which had more yellow jerseys than blue jerseys even though it was the temporary home ground of Delhi Capitals.
Dhoni came to bat at number 8, with CSK’s score being 120/6 in 16.1 overs, while chasing 192. The loss was a foregone conclusion for CSK, but everyone had patiently been awaiting Dhoni’s arrival with the bat in hand. His thunderous innings made the wait worth it.
Dhoni started off with two boundaries in his first three balls, against Mukesh Kumar, before launching Khaleel over extra cover for his first six. The grandstand finish came in the last over against Nortje, who is one of the fastest pacers in the world.
Even at the age of 42, MS Dhoni utterly clobbered Nortje, blasting two fours and two sixes in CSK’s last over. One of those sixes was an astonishing one-handed six to a low full toss over mid-wicket. The crowd erupted in amazement at Dhoni’s prowess, even though we had seen it all over the past two decades.
The way MS Dhoni played was spectacular: Stephen Fleming
CSK’s head coach, Stephen Fleming, too, was amazed by Dhoni’s one-handed maximum against Nortje.
In the post-match press conference, Fleming said, “It was beautiful, wasn’t it? And even the one-handed one over midwicket. He has been playing incredibly well in the pre-season.”
Dhoni was coming off knee surgery, and since he doesn’t play domestic cricket, the CSK pre-camp was the only time when he got proper net practice.
Fleming added: “He’s coming back from quite a serious operation. He has been rehabbing well and his batting has been superb. And that performance gave a positive vibe towards the end of a tough day. So, to get to within 20 [runs] is important run-rate wise and the way he played was spectacular.”
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