CSK captain MS Dhoni inspired his fast bowler Mukesh Choudhary through a small-chat in the final over of the match against SRH.
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Chennai Super Kings defeated SunRisers Hyderabad by 13 runs in the Indian Premier League 2022 contest at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Sunday. It was only their third win of the season and their first under MS Dhoni who returned back to his captaincy role after Ravindra Jadeja decided to quit following his short stint. And even though Dhoni did not play a major role with the bad his ability to read the game from behind the stumps and guide his bowlers made the headlines.
READ MORE: IPL 2022 SRH vs CSK: MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings return to winning ways
CSK had set a daunting target of 203 runs to chase for SRH in the match and looked well in control to win it by a big margin. Dhoni showed his faith in young Mukesh Choudhary who had picked up four wickets in the match to bowl the final over where SRH needed 38 runs to win. But the proceedings did not pan out much in the favour of the Chennai franchise. SRH’s West Indies hard-hitting batter Nicholas Pooran smashed Choudhary for a six and four with the third ball ending as a dot. However, the fourth delivery from Choudhary, was sprayed outside leg stump which left Dhoni furious.
Even though the match was in CSK’s favour, Dhoni had his concerns, and went on to have a chat with Choudhary. “He just told me to bowl normally and even though I tried a couple of different deliveries, he just said bowl normally as they require a lot of runs. So just bowl normally and ‘Don’t give a no-ball,” Choudhary said after the match. The last three balls resulted in 6, 6, 1 but Dhoni appreciated the effort from Choudhary under pressure.
“I always told my bowlers, you may get hit for four sixes in an over, but the two balls that you save – ultimately in a high-scoring game – those are the two deliveries that will help you win the game. Because a lot of bowlers, after getting 3-4 sixes, they will be like let’s get done with it but that one boundary or even instead of sixes if you get hit for two fours that will help you in a game. I don’t know if they believe in that theory, but it works,” Dhoni said during the post-match presentation.
