All those present at the MA Chidambaram Stadium or glued to their TV/laptop/mobile phone screens during the Chennai Super Kings vs Gujarat Titans game were waiting for MS Dhoni to stride out with the bat, and delight them with his power-packed hits. That did not happen, sadly, but viewers were still rewarded with a moment of brilliance in the field from 'Thala'. (Full IPL 2024 Coverage | More Cricket News)
Wearing his 42 years lightly, Dhoni pulled off a vintage acrobatic catch to dismiss Vijay Shankar off Daryl Mitchell in match 7 of Indian Premier League 2024. The catch reminded cricket lovers that age or knee surgery had done little to subdue the reflexes of the former India captain.
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The moment unfolded in the eighth over of the GT innings. The visitors were chasing a hefty target of 207 and Shankar was batting at a run-a-ball 12, when Mitchell bowled a fullish delivery outside the off stump. Shankar's attempted drive found his outside edge and Dhoni dove full length to his right to complete a typically spectacular catch. You can watch the video of the catch below.
GT went three down for 55, ande despite attempts from southpaws Sai Sudharsan and David Miller to mount a challenge, never really threatened to scale the target. CSK's all-seam attack did for the job for captain Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Deepak Chahar, Mustafizur Rahman and Tushar Deshpande picked up three wickets apiece to break the back of the GT batting.
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Resultantly, the hosts won the match by a whopping 63 runs and marched to the top of the table with four points from two games. CSK next face DC in Visakhapatnam on March 31, while Shubman Gill's GT take on Sunrisers Hyderabad the same day, in an afternoon game in Ahmedabad.
