MS Dhoni once again displayed tactical nous, when he shrewdly planned out Virat Kohli’s dismissal during the Chennai Super Kings-Royal Challengers Bangalore clash on Tuesday at the DY Patil Stadium.
Even though MS Dhoni has left the captaincy post of CSK, the 40-year-old continued to be a heavy influence on the field, helping new skipper Ravindra Jadeja in any which way possible.
Losing captain Faf du Plessis early, RCB had been left in the doldrums at the score of 20/1 at the 4-over mark chasing a mammoth target of 217. The onus was on former captain Virat Kohli to take up the mantle of scoring runs, and quickly. However, it wasn’t his night as MS Dhoni, having played with and against Kohli for a long time, pulled out a masterclass to get rid of the former RCB skipper.
When Virat Kohli arrived at the crease, there was no deep square leg. However, as soon as Kohli came on strike, Dhoni rang a field change: knowing left-arm seamer Mukesh Choudhary’s aim to swing the ball into Kohli, the RCB batter will look to aim for the leg-side boundary. Instead of a deep fine leg, Dhoni called up a fielder to be stationed at the deep square leg boundary.
The plan worked to the tee for the Super Kings: Kohli stepped out and pulled Choudhary, however, he didn’t connect it well and the ball went straight to the deep square leg fielder, Shivam Dube.
The broadcaster, Star Sports, showed this masterclass of game awareness and the tactical genius of MS Dhoni.
Just @msdhoni things. ? pic.twitter.com/88ho3S6pbf
— Sharukh (@StanMSD) April 13, 2022
Virat Kohli’s wicket left RCB further slipping. As many as four batters got going, scoring over 20, for RCB but none could play a long knock that the likes of Robin Uthappa (88 off 50) and Shivam Dube (95 off 46) did that helped CSK put such a gigantic total.
CSK now have their first win in IPL 2022 following four defeats. RCB have won 3 of their 5 matches.
