Encore by Master of Slog Dhoni

Chasing a modest 241 for victory, the opener sent the very first delivery off Sabir Ali crashing onto the point boundary. The next over saw the man flick a Sanjib Sanyal good length ball into the far last wrung of the empty Eden Gardens stands. It was plain madness from then on. Thirteen scorching boundaries and seven telling sixes exposed Bengal cricket, as opponents Kalighat, boasting as many as four players from the state side, were reeling under the assault.

It took an armer from left-arm tweaker Vikram Jaiswara to fox him into missing the line in the ninth over. But by then, the show was as good as over, as the scoreboard read — Shyambazar 117/1 off 9 overs; MS Dhoni 102 off 44 balls.

This was one such day when nothing could have gone wrong for the in-form player, who even tasted success with the ball! Dhoni, the quickie, pulled off a commendable catch to pick up a wicket off his own bowling, and completed the fairy tale by effecting a spectacular run-out.

The match may have been insignificant, but Dhoni disagrees. Speaking to The Indian Express, the stumper said: “Well, these two knocks are quite important for me. That’s because my focus right now is on the tri-series in Sri Lanka.’’

So do these two blistering tons bring back memories of the 140-run blitz against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam? Dhoni said: “Oh yes. How can I forget that match? But that was against a world-class bowling side and in an international match.”

“This is surely one of the fastest centuries that I have hit. Today’s century is among the best that I have played so far,” said Dhoni.