WATCH: MS Dhoni Turn Back The Clock In 200th Game As Chennai Super Kings Captain, Almost Win Match In Final Over

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls as the home side lost by 3 runs to Rajasthan Royals.

CSK skipper MS Dhoni bats against Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2023 match in Chennai. (Photo: BCCI/IPL)

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) needed 21 runs to win in the final over of their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Chennai on Wednesday but the match was far from being over with skipper MS Dhoni in the middle. In his 200th match as CSK captain, Dhoni turned back the clock for his fans, smashing a couple off sixes off RR pacer Sandeep Sharma to keep Chepauk hopes of an unlikely win alive.

However, Sandeep Sharma nailed a couple of pin-point yorkers off the final two balls of the last over to Ravindra Jadeja to eke out a three-run win for his side. Dhoni remained unbeaten on 32 off 17 balls with three sixes and 1 four as four-time IPL champions CSK suffered their first home defeat at the hands of Royals at home since 2008.

WATCH highlights of MS Dhoni’s knock against Rajasthan Royals HERE…

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Rewind Dhoni's late blitz from #CSKvRR & keep watching #IPLJioCinema _#TATAIPL #IPL2023 | @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/k09CU93AC5 — JioCinema (@JioCinema) April 12, 2023

The Royals posted 175 for 8 after batting first and CSK need 176 to win for their third successive win in IPL 2023. But ‘hometown’ hero Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up a couple of wickets each to get RR back in the contest after Devon Conway and Ajinkya Rahane gave a home side a fine start.

“I don’t fancy too many things. I just wait for the bowlers to commit a few errors. The bowler was slightly under pressure in the last over,” Dhoni said about his batting in the final overs.

“You need to back yourself. My strength is to look to hit straight. We saw the amount of dew, and after the first few overs, it became relatively easy. We should have done better with the bat. Overall, the bowlers did well,” the CSK skipper added.

Dhoni also became the first captain to lead an IPL franchise in 200 matches. “I am not big on milestones. How does it matter if it is 199 or 200. It is a compliment to play 200 games. Thanks to almighty. But as I said nothing special,” Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.

Royals skipper Sanju Samson said that one can never have the game in the bag till Dhoni is batting in the middle. “You can’t feel that way (that game is in the bag) till the time that guy (Dhoni) is in the middle. I do a lot of planning, research and sit down with the data team. A lot of thoughts are going around. Nothing works on Dhoni, though,” Samson said after the match.