MS Dhoni will be batting in the final over of Chennai Super Kings’ game against the Delhi Capitals in Visakhapatnam on Sunday and will end the game with a six. That was Chennai Super Kings’ batting coach Michael Hussey’s prediction for DC vs CSK before the IPL 2024 clash began.
Both those predictions came true on Sunday with Dhoni walking into bat for the first time in the IPL 2024 season and indeed hitting the last ball of the game for a six. However, he could not drag the CSK team over the line to victory, as Chennai fell short by 20 runs.
“My prediction for the last over of the match is that MS Dhoni will be batting. The crowd will be roaring and MSD will hit a six to finish the match,” Hussey had said in a recent video uploaded by IPL on their social media.
Dhoni, who stepped down from his captaincy role and was succeeded by Ruturaj Gaikwad, had not had the chance to bat before Sunday. While CSK won their first game by only losing four wickets in a chase against RCB, despite losing as many as six in their last game against Gujarat, Dhoni didn’t bat.
After the game in Chennai earlier this week, Hussey had said, “I think we were all expecting MSD to come out and play those last sort of a few balls. But they realised that he [Sameer Rizvi] has got some natural power against spin and that is why they wanted to send the youngster out. And, you know, he delivered two sixes at the end, which was great for his confidence.”
“With the Impact Player rule coming in, we have basically got an extra batsman and an extra bowler throughout the game. So the batting order keeps lengthening. I think we have MSD at number eight. Which is crazy, you know, and MSD is batting really well at the moment as well,” he added.
Having scored in access of 400 runs in the 2018 and 2019 season, Dhoni hasn’t been able to cross the 250 mark in any of the following seasons and has batted lower down the order.
Last season, leading the team to their fifth title, Dhoni had scored 104 runs, with his highest in a single innings being 32*.
Get latest updates on IPL 2025 from IPL Points Table to Teams, Schedule, Most Runs and Most Wickets along with live cricket score updates for all matches. Also get Sports news and more cricket updates.
