Dhoni burst caps off stellar efforts by Ruturaj, Dube
The combined batting might powers Super Kings past the 200mark against Mumbai Indians, with the star gloveman sizzling with a fourball 20 off the last four deliveries of the innings
Shivam Dube returned to his hallowed home turf in style. Ruturaj Gaikwad registered his personal best as the Chennai Super Kings captain. But the last four balls of the first innings will be remembered for ever in the IPL history.
Had it not been for those four deliveries, Chennai Super Kings would have struggled to cross the 200run mark against Mumbai Indians. That total may be a bare minimum at the Wankhede Stadium at this time of the year, considering the heavy impact the dew cover has on the outcome of the game.
More importantly, those four balls — faced by the legendary M.S. Dhoni — not only let the Mumbaikars witness their beloved batter one last time at the same venue where he had lifted the coveted World Cup 13 years ago.
If he had sealed India’s emphatic World Cup final win with a six that April 2 night, on Sunday, barring the last of the four balls he faced from Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya, all the other balls flew into the stands.
The decibel levels were extremely high ever since Ajinkya Rahane opened in place of Ruturaj. The noise level literally burst out of control when Dhoni walked down the dressing room staircase after Daryl Mitchell holed out to Mohammad Nabi at longon.
The first ball was full and wide and Dhoni — who had struggled to time the ball during his rangehitting stint the previous night — sent it sailing over longoff, into the Dilip
Vengsarkar North Stand. The next one was a touch straighter and it was despatched to the Sachin Tendulkar Stand on the other side of the sight screen.
Hardik targeted the blockhole next, erred in lineandlength and Dhoni sent it over squaerleg, into the corridor between the Vijay Merchant Pavilion and the Garware Pavilion. The home team was at the receiving end but who cared? The last ball – a
MI 135 for four
MI was 135 for four in 16 overs with Rohit (78) and David (1) batting
Aussie pace ace Mitchell Starc finally lived up to his high price tag with a threewicket haul and Phil Salt scored a brilliant halfcentury as Kolkata Knight Riders posted a comprehensive eightwicket win over Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
After restricting LSG, which sought home comfort by donning citybased sister concern Mohun Bagan’s greenandmaroon colours, to 161 for seven, KKR achieved the target with 4.2 overs to spare to please its fans on Bengali new year.
Right from the toss, the host remained in control. Vaibhav Arora struck early to dismiss Quinton de Kock.
Starc bowled a shorter length and utilised the bounce well to test the LSG batters. He tasted success in the third over of his extended first spell as Ramandeep took a spectacular diving catch at point.
Captain K.L. Rahul (39) played some handsome shots on either side to build a platform. He hammered Andre Russell for a six over point before pulling the West Indian straight to deep midwicket.
Keeping it tight
With the ball gripping the surface, KKR spinners Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy kept it tight and picked up a wicket apiece. Varun accounted for Marcus Stoinis, while the parsimonious Narine removed the set Ayush Badoni (27).
Leading LSG rungetter Nicholas Pooran (45) tried to finish well. His trademark strokeplay, combining power and confidence, produced some big sixes on the legside, including two in a row off Arora.
The southpaw was caught behind as Starc returned to bowl expertly,
Quick wickets
Mohsin Khan pegged the hosts back by claiming Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi cheaply.
But Salt’s clean and smart hitting on both sides entertained the crowd and kept KKR moving.
After impressing behind the stumps, Salt (89 n.o., 47b, 14x4, 3x6), who was dropped on 31 off Joseph as Arshad Khan conceded a six at deep squareleg, got his second fifty. He added 120 with Shreyas Iyer (38 n.o., 38b, 6x4) rapidly, as KKR crossed the line comfortably.