IPL 2023 : MS Dhoni says poor outing with the Bat led to the loss against Rajasthan Royals by 3 runs!

It was business as usual for the charismatic captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), who nearly pulled off a heist for the four-time winners in their just ended Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 clash at the Chepauk, despite the fact that MS Dhoni managed to change the course of history on Wednesday.

At the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Sandeep Sharma’s heroics in the final over nearly overshadowed Dhoni’s late blitz as CSK fell short of the Rajasthan Royals (RR) by just three runs.

Dhoni, who is frequently referred to as the best finisher in game history, played a lightning-quick innings of 32 not out off just 17 balls. The Yellow Brigade’s talisman, however, was unable to seal the victory for CSK as pacer Sandeep Sharma maintained composure and brilliantly defended 20 runs in the final over. In the second and third balls of his final over, Dhoni hit Sandeep for back-to-back sixes, but the medium pacer fought back valiantly.

WHAT. A. GAME! 👏 👏

Another day, another last-ball finish in #TATAIPL 2023! 😎@sandeep25a holds his nerve as @rajasthanroyals seal a win against #CSK! 👍 👍

Scorecard ▶️ https://t.co/IgV0Ztjhz8#CSKvRR pic.twitter.com/vGgNljKvT6

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 12, 2023

Sandeep was tasked with defending 5 runs on the final ball to secure RR’s stunning victory while Dhoni was on strike. At the Chepauk, the RR pacer struck his yorker perfectly to foil Chennai’s attempt.

During the post match presentation, Ravi Shashtri asked Dhoni to put in his insights about how the match ended and the CSK captain said – “I would wait for it and that is something which has worked for me, and at the end of the day, the bowler is under more pressure, even if he misses by a few inches, I can hit it for a six. You need to back your strength and my strength is to hit straight.”

Dhoni also slammed CSK’s top and middle order and said that the loss was an outcome of a failed outing with the bat. “I think in the middle overs we needed a bit more strike rotation, there were too many dot balls. There wasn’t much for the spinners but they had experienced spinners and we could not rotate strike.” – Dhoni concluded.