MS Dhoni is well known for his wicket-keeping skills and his catching has made him into a legend of the sport over the years. As a result, it came as a shock to both fans and experts when Dhoni made a mess of a fairly simple catch during Chennai Super Kings’ IPL 2024 match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Monday. During the 18th over of the KKR innings, Andre Russell got a thick outside-edge on a delivery from Mustafizur Rahman and it looked like a fairly simple chance for Dhoni. However, he was slow in reacting to the catch and the ball hit the gloves and bounced out of them. The fans were left stunned while the commentator said: “Even sound effects could not produce so much silence.”
During the post-match analysis on Cricbuzz, former England skipper Michael Vaughan and former New Zealand cricketer Simon Doull engaged in a hilarious conversation over the incident.
“MS Dhoni dropped quite a simple catch with the one hand and the cameras went straight on to most of the CSK team. Because it was MS Dhoni, most of them were like – “That’s fine”.
Doull: “Nobody said a word. I would love to see the bowler give a reaction (makes animated gestures).”
Vaughan: “You could see that he wanted to. He went for it and then he thought – Oh, it is MS Dhoni.”
Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad’s 58-ball 67 against Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL game here will not only make him a confident batter but also an assured captain, feels World Cup winning former England skipper Eoin Morgan.
Gaikwad, who has taken over leadership duties from the legendary Mahendra Singh Dhoni, had scores of 15, 1, 46 and 26 in the first four games before striking big against KKR on Monday, whi was his first half-century of the current season.
“This innings (67 vs KKR) will build a huge amount of belief and confidence for him (Gaikwad) in his game. Playing an innings like this, early in the tournament will give him a lot of reassurance on his decision-making and pass on a message to the team,” Morgan, a JioCinema TATA IPL expert, was quoted as saying in a press release.
(With PTI inputs)
