News Analysis India

Tag: Dhoni

  • Mumbai Indians Star Ishan Kishan Learnt Tricks of the Trade From MS Dhoni

    Ishan Kishan has been a revelation for Mumbai Indians in this edition of the Indian Premier League with the defending champions looking to use the diminutive Jharkhand batsman not just as the first down batsman, but his wicket-keeping skills has also ensured that the MI management has been able to play an extra batsman or bowler according to the situation.

    But more than the performance, it is the fitness that the youngster has shown batting at No.3 and also keeping wickets which is what has impressed all. He has amassed 151 runs in the 5 games so far at an average of 30.20, but a strike rate of 145.19 with a fifty against Rajasthan Royals on Sunday. Along with that, he has also picked 3 catches and effected 2 stumpings.

    And while he has made an impact this season for Mumbai Indians, the journey started back in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy season for Jharkhand when he rubbed shoulders with none other than former India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Ishan amassed 799 runs in 10 games that season at an average of 57.07. And speaking to CricketNext, the former India U-19 skipper had said that it was Dhoni who made him work on his attitude at the crease.

    “Dhoni bhai saw me at the nets and walked up to me and said that I needed to curtail my attacking instincts to begin with. He believed that to play a long innings I needed to be a little more compact and I did just that. He asked me to change my stance as well and when it comes from someone like Dhoni bhai, you know you can trust his observation.

    “I got time to rework my stance and train with my new stance during the camp ahead of the season and I realised that I was feeling a lot better at the crease. I have maintained that stance since and I have seen that it has enhanced my batting,” he said.

  • CSK Fan Breaches Security to Touch Dhoni’s Feet During Rajasthan Tie

    New Delhi: If there is one team who has the biggest fan-following in the Indian Premier League, it has to be Chennai Super Kings. Returning to the league after a gap of two years, the support has not diminished one bit for the team.

    For the fans skipper MS Dhoni is a demigod, and is certainly their favourite player. Such is his influence that MSD never ceases to hog the limelight. On Friday, in the match against Rajasthan Royals, that CSK won by 64 runs, when Dhoni walked out to bat after the fall of Suresh Raina’s wicket, a fan ran breached the security to touch his feet. A video of the same has surfaced online.

    Even the team management acknowledges this support from the fans, and does it bit for them. Recently, after CSK home matches were shifted to Pune because of Cauvery water issue, a special train was arranged for 1,000 fans to Pune, to watch the match against Rajasthan.

  • Former RCB Players Lighting up the League While Virat Kohli & Co Look to Kick-start Campaign Against DD

    Former Royal Challengers Bangalore players have been in sublime form in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), while at the same time, Virat Kohli and his boys are once again struggling at the bottom half of the table, in the early stages of the tournament.

    While on one hand, stars like KL Rahul, Chris Gayle and Shane Watson have been tearing the bowlers apart for their respective teams in the cash-rich league, RCB’s new recruits haven’t been able perform at their optimum levels as they have once again started ever so slow in the league.

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    RCB opted to retain the likes of Virat Kohli, AB De Villiers and Sarfaraz Khan ahead of the auction, and while the choice of picking the first two was a no-brainer, same thing certainly cannot be said about the youngster Sarfaraz, who has scored just 11 runs in three innings so far.

    Kings XI Punjab’s Rahul and Gayle have been one of the top batsmen in the league and are scoring runs for fun. While Chennai Super Kings’ Shane Watson showed in their last match against Rajasthan Royals that he is still a force to be reckoned with in the shortest format of the game.

    KL Rahul – M:4, R: 153, HS: 51, SR: 171.9

    Rahul started off the campaign with a stunning onslaught against Delhi Daredevils in Mohali and went up to notch the fastest IPL fifty as well. Rahul has been instrumental is providing his team with ideal starts and has scores of 51, 47, 37 and 18 in four match, thus far.

    Chris Gayle – M:2, R: 167, HS: 104*, SR: 167.0

    After being snubbed early on in the auction, KXIP took a punt with Chris Gayle, acquiring his services for his base price of Rs 2 Cr, and boy the decision to do so has paid dividends for the team. Gayle had a point to prove and in just two matches, he seemed to have done that by slamming a fifty and a century.

    Shane Watson – M:4, R: 175, HS: 106, SR: 176.7, W: 6, ECON: 7.3

    All-rounder Shane Watson too has shown that despite not playing international cricket, he still has a lot to offer in the IPL. With the help of his 51-ball ton against Royals, Watson has become one of the leading run-getters in the league, while with 6 wickets in his kitty already, Watson is amongst the top wicket-takers as well.

    To make matters worse of RCB, their batting line-up hasn’t fired on all cylinders, despite having so many big names, and they have had to rely on skipper Kohli to provide respectability to the score after losing wickets in a heap in almost every game that they have played so far.

    Apart from their match against KXIP, where the likes of De Villiers and Quinton de Kock fired them to their only win of the tournament so far, their batting have been found wanting on most occassion. Mandeep Singh has also shone in bits and pieces but overall, it hasn’t been a magnificent campaign for him either. Brendon McCullum failed on couple of occasions after scoring 43 in the first match and was dropped from side while his replacement Corey Anderson was dismissed for a duck in the first match that he played.

    Kohli and his boys will look to make amends in their next game against Delhi Daredevils but even if they do so, RCB fans will still be left pondering of stars like Rahul, Gayle and Watson had turned up in their colors once again this season.

  • When Ziva Wanted to Hug MS Dhoni During CSK’s Game Against KXIP

    Even as MS Dhoni was gearing up to go out and bat in the middle during the Chennai Super Kings-Kings XI Punjab game at the IS Bindra Stadium in Mohali on Sunday, daughter Ziva suddenly wanted to hug her father and insisted that her dad be called from the dug-out.Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni was back in his elements on Sunday night as he almost single-handedly took CSK over the line against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali, but it was a bad back injury that saw the skipper fall just short as KXIP won by 4 runs.

    Speaking at the end of the game about his back and how difficult it was to carry on with a back injury, Dhoni was at his candid best. “It’s bad; how bad it is, I don’t know. God has given me the power. I don’t need to use the back a lot, the hands can do the job. But overall, we’ll assess how bad it is. It shouldn’t be too bad because I know what really happened and once you know the kind of injury it is, it becomes slightly easy to get out of it and also we have three-four days now before the next game. I’m quite used to playing with few injuries, whether it is back, fingers, elbow or something else. You have to be tough and get on with the game,” he smiled.Chris Gayle starred with the bat and Mohit Sharma kept his cool in the end as Kings XI Punjab registered a 4-run win over the Chennai Super Kings in Mohali on Sunday.

    Gayle announced his arrival to KXIP with a scintillating 63 runs from 33 balls. His magical innings included seven fours, four sixes as the hosts reached a commanding total of 197/7 after their 20 overs.

    For CSK, it was the MS Dhoni show as he scored an unbeaten 79 off just 44 balls but for once, failed to take his team past the finish line.

    The men in yellow were never really in the chase as they lost wickets at regular intervals.

    Mohit Sharma removed Shane Watson early, the in-form Aussie making only 11. Murali Vijay, who had replaced Suresh Raina, didn’t last long either as he was dismissed for 12 by Andrew Tye.

    Ravichandran Ashwin’s leg-spin accounted for CSK’s hero in the previous game – Sam Billings, as he looked to sweep the KXIP captain but completely missed the ball to be trapped lbw. Though, the umpire didn’t raise his finger, DRS came to Ashwin’s rescue.

    However, then Skipper MS Dhoni then joined Ambati Rayudu in the middle and the two put on a 57-run partnership which got CSK back on track.

    Dhoni’s injured back didn’t help their cause either as he had to call in the physio for treatement.

    But as he often does, the 36-year-old took the game right till the end and started bringing in the big shots when the required rate reached 15. CSK needed 67 off 24 balls, but then Jadeja-Dhoni combo hit 9,19 and 19 runs in the 17th,18th and 19th over respectively.

    This meant Mohit Sharma had the unenviable task of defending 17 runs in the final over.

    He started by bowling yorkers outside the off-stump, which Dhoni struggled to hit due to a jarred back. In the end, it was enough to guide KXIP to their third victory.

    Earlier, Gayle showed why he is still the most feared batsman across the world. It all started when on the first ball of his innings, he caressed Harbhajan Singh through the covers for a four.

    There was no looking back from there as he notched a fifty in just 22 balls. His innings was instrumental in powering Punjab to the huge total.