If the IPL 2024 The encounter was against Mumbai Indians MS DhoniThe last match at the Wankhede Stadium, how was the way out. 13 years ago where Dhoni achieved his greatest cricketing moment – winning the World Cup, MSD played a knock reminiscent of his days or past. Walking out to bat in the over of the Chennai Super Kings innings, Dhoni clubbed the MI captain. Hardik Pandya To score a hat-trick of sixes with an unbeaten 20 off four balls. And as it turned out, Dhoni’s knock proved to be the difference in the end, as MI fell behind by exactly 20 runs. CSKTotal 206/4.
But the world enjoyed Dhoni’s blitz, incl Mumbai A faithful present at the legendary Wankhede Sunil Gavaskar Had mixed feelings about it. Gavaskar, like innumerable others, thoroughly enjoyed watching Dhoni turn back the clock, as he was smitten with MI for gifting CSK with a good deal of joy. In fact, the former India captain was so upset that he accused Mumbai Indians of giving Dhoni ‘beneficiary’ treatment. Don’t know what that is? Read the following statement by Gavaskar.
“Well I’m sure the Mumbai Indians could see him practicing too, so he decided this might be his last match in Mumbai, so let’s go the same way, so he can make the Mumbai crowd happy. Listen, I’m not over it, I’m not…like all Indians, I am his fan, and I want to see him hit sixes, but not three back-to-back sixes, Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“It’s all a length ball, it’s like I said, like an advantage match, you know, there’s a beneficiary, and you have to make sure that the beneficiary succeeds in his advantage match, doesn’t get out on the first ball, and it was the same bowling.”
MS Dhoni and Wankhede, a story made in heaven
Because of this, Gavaskar made an uproar Lashed Hardik described his captaincy and bowling as ‘absolutely normal’. MI could have restricted CSK to 200 if Hardik Pandya had been a little more disciplined in his bowling. As Gavaskar explained, not only did Hardik miss his length, but Dhoni made the serious mistake of gifting the batter with length balls. The first ball was in the slot, allowing Dhoni to free his arms and throw a kitchen-sink over it – which drew comparisons with Dhoni’s World Cup-winning six off Nuwan Kulasekera.
The next ball was in the pocket as Dhoni sent the ball over the cow corner. Trying to pull his length back, Hardik tries a little too hard and delivers a full toss over Dhoni’s pads. With plenty of time, the CSK skipper swung the bat with brute force and blasted a hat-trick of sixes. It was around 2011 when Dhoni and his love affair with hitting sixes at Wankhede wrote a new chapter.