WATCH: MS Dhoni drops a sitter; commentator defends him stating those ones are “hard”
It seems like the age factor is catching up with the impregnable MS Dhoni, who isn’t known to miss regulation chances, but has done it twice in two games in the IPL 2021 playoffs. He dropped Prithvi Shaw early on in the innings, and although it didn’t cost Chennai Super Kings much, it was a major disappointment.
However, in the IPL 2021 final (CSK vs KKR) against Kolkata Knight Riders, his dropped chance was a lot more closer to his body. Josh Hazlewood’s short-of-length delivery from over the wicket to Venkatesh Iyer took off the pitch and induced an outside edge from Iyer’s willow. The ball moved pretty fast off the edge, and Dhoni’s reaction to it was a testament to it.
The ball did not move at the most comfortable of heights, as he had to collect it just next to his head. Dhoni was spotted explaining how the ball tailed down after the outside edge, which made it difficult for him to pick it, and commentator Matthew Hayden was defending his former IPL captain with the same explanation.
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Hayden stated that the ball wobbled off the edge, and called it a tough chance to pick up. “It actually tailed down, that’s what he (MS Dhoni) is saying and I agree with him. It wobbled, they’re often the hardest when the ball comes wobbling to you,” Hayden said.
Here’s the video of MS Dhoni dropping the catch, with Hayden’s explanation in the background
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CSK set a 193-run target for Kolkata to win the game. Faf du Plessis chipped in with a brilliant 59-ball 86, and crucial contributions came from Ruturaj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa and Moeen Ali. This allowed the men in yellow to walk confidently into the dressing room after the first innings, but with the pitch being pretty good for batting, no team could’ve taken it for granted.
Only twice in all the 13 IPL finals did a team chase a target in excess of 180, and on both occasions, it was Kolkata Knight Riders. They chased down 191 runs in 2012, and chased 200 in 2014 to win the championship.