The Chennai Super Kings captain and coach pair of MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming is known to usually have a calm and composed head. However, a few times, in the tension of a tight match, even this calm duo lost their temper and showed their emotions.
One such instance was on Sunday when Dhoni and Stephen Fleming were annoyed by some lapse in fielding by Maheesh Theekshana in their close match against Punjab Kings at the Chepauk.
During the 16th over of Punjab’s chase of 201 runs, after Liam Livingstone had smoked Tushar Deshpande for two sixes on the first two balls, on the third ball, Livingstone went for another big shot but it came off his body and flew toward short thirdman where Maheesh Theekshana was positioned.
The Sri Lankan spinner failed to judge the ball properly and went for a dive. He, however, missed the ball completely and to make things words, the ball went for a four.
MS Dhoni’s never-before-seen angry look to Theekshana has gone viral
Seeing this reckless effort from Maheesh Theekshana, both Dhoni and Stephen Fleming gave serious reactions. In the dug-out, Fleming donned an irritated look and removed his hat. On the field, Dhoni looked furious with Theekshana letting the ball go past for four and muttered some words to the Sri Lanka, letting him know of his mistake.
This error from Theekshana did prove costly as the match ended on the last ball. With 3 runs needed off the last ball, Sikander Raza smartly moved across his stumps and pulled Pathirana over the square leg fielder and the pair of Raza and Shahrukh ran three runs to seal a nail-biting victory for Punjab Kings.
In the post-match presentation, MS Dhoni said: “We need to be prepared as to what is to be done. The last few overs when we were batting, we could have gotten 10-15 more. Our bowling needed some cushion. The slower one did grip. Our batters have been putting runs consistently. I think 200 was par but we bowled two bad overs. We know the conditions well. We didn’t bowl well. You didn’t want to get hit to that side. You need to see what is the problem. The execution or the plan. Pathirana bowled really well. The first six overs we can do better. What lines to bowl.”
