MS Dhoni. (Source -Twitter/X)
Mahendra Singh Dhoni landed in his hometown Ranchi, after a heartbreaking loss against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on May 18. The loss meant that Chennai Super Kings failed to make it to the playoffs of the Indian Premier League 2024. Dhoni left Bengaluru on the subsequent day and landed at the Ranchi airport with his family on Sunday, May 19.
MS Dhoni Back to Ranchi ❤️ #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/s166DEtilh
— Chakri Dhoni (@ChakriDhoni17) May 19, 2024
After winning the toss CSK captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad invited RCB to bat first. On the back of a half-century from Faf du Plessis and a solid knock by Virat Kohli, the hosts posted a challenging 218 on board. The visitors lost early wickets but kept themselves in the game. In the final over, they needed 34 runs to win and 17 runs to qualify for the playoffs. Yash Dayal held his nerves and took RCB home by conceding just 7 runs. Matthew Hayden summed up, what the season meant for Dhoni.
”Yeah, I suppose the thing is when you come to the end of your career, whether it is the last part of his career or not, what you don’t want to see is diminishing returns as an athlete. Firstly, as a leader, he is The Thala of the Chennai Super Kings. This is telling me that nothing here is about becoming anything else other than first place,” Hayden told Star Sports.
“He’s desperately using his brains, all of that cricket knowledge. And of course, the power is there and that’s always been MS Dhoni. He’s always hit balls at this stage of an innings. At the front, you can understand how players can hit it. But at the back, it’s really hard to hit balls,” he added.
Dhoni almost sailed CSK’s ship in Bengaluru
The former CSK captain was in his element on Saturday night. He came out to bat when CSK had lost six wickets. With the required run rate raking up, he hit some timely boundaries. With 17 needed to qualify off the last over, he smashed a 110-meter six on the first ball. But Yash Dayal made a comeback by picking him the very next ball.