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Rediff.com  » Cricket » Turning Point: Dhoni-Rayudu turn on the screws

Turning Point: Dhoni-Rayudu turn on the screws

By Norma Godinho
April 26, 2018 10:46 IST
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CSK's Ambati Rayudu and Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a 100-run stand en route the big win

IMAGE: CSK's Ambati Rayudu and Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored 100 runs together en route to a big win over RCB. Photograph: BCCI

What a season this has been for CSK!

Most of their wins have come in the last over and it was no different at the M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Chasing RCB's mammoth 206 for victory, CSK started off shakily, losing 4 wickets in 9 overs with just 74 on the board.

CSK bat deep, but when Mahendra Singh Dhoni came in to bat, the skipper didn't want to leave anything for the lower order to do.

 

And so he went about his business in his very own cool manner, with the in-form Ambati Rayudu at the other end.

Rayudu had already gotten off to a blazing start while the wickets kept tumbling at the other end, so when Dhoni came to the crease he was assured that the captain would stay longer.

Dhoni announced his arrival with a couple of sixes.

Pawan Negi went for a maximum. Two overs later, MSD showed the wayward Corey Anderson no mercy, hitting him for a six, taking 11 off the Kiwi's over.

At the other end Rayudu was going about his job in similar fashion, getting to a half-century with a six.

That was the over Negi was clobbered for 19 and CSK were back in the reckoning.

Umesh dropped Rayudu off Anderson in the 16th over and that miss proved decisive as the batsman made the most of the reprieve and hammered two sixes in the over, taking 16 off him.

Although Rayudu was run out in the 18th over -- a superb direct throw by Umesh doing the trick -- the CSK duo had amassed a 100 run partnership.

With 16 needed off the last over, Dhoni kept it real cool to take his team across the finish line as RCB's bowlers faltered in line.

Anderson went for 58 runs off his 3.4 overs. Dhoni getting the winning runs in signature style -- with a six!

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Norma Godinho / Rediff.com

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