The Vishakhapatnam crowd went crazy when former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni finally came out to bat in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League on Sunday. (More Cricket News | As It Happened)
Dhoni finished with an unbeaten 16-ball 37 and hit two sixes in the last over of the match including one on the last ball to send the Vizag crowd into rapture, ensuring fans, who kept chanting his name, left the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium with their hearts brimming with joy.
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In a moment reminiscent of his vintage form, MS Dhoni bludgeoned two sixes and also hit two fours off South African express pacer Anrich Nortje who was bowling the last over.
The first of the two sixes, on the second ball of the over, was off a low full toss on the stumps. Even though Dhoni's bottom hand came off the bat, he had put enough power in the ball to help it sail over the long on fence and straight into the crowd.
The six off the final ball was another powerful strike. Nortje tried a wide yorker which was pummelled by Dhoni over the cover fence for a flat maximum.
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Before taking Nortje to the cleaners, the wicket-keeper batter had already smashed a six off left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed. Ahmed's widish slower ball had been dispatched by Dhoni over the extra cover fence for an inside out six.
However, despite the Dhoni blitz, CSK finished 171/6, 20 runs short of Delhi Capitals' first inning score of 191/5.
This was the first win for the Delhi Capitals while for CSK this was their first loss of the season. Batting first after winning the toss, DC rode on fifties of skipper Rishabh Pant and opener David Warner to put up 191 runs on the board.
A top class opening spell from Indian pacer Khaleel Ahmed put CSK on the backfoot and they could never recover.
