MS Dhoni for the umpteenth time was in line to pull off another incredible chase but finally ran out of luck as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) managed to beat Chennai Super Kings (CSK) by one run in a last-ball thriller on Sunday night.
Chasing 162 to win, CSK needed a near-impossible 26 off the final over bowled by Umesh Yadav and Dhoni with unbeaten 84 off 48 balls that had seven sixes showed that nothing is indeed impossible until the cricketing gods intervened.
It was one of the most destructive innings from Dhoni in the recent past but the CSK skipper missed a straight one when the visiting team needed two runs from 1 ball. Dhoni tried to steal a single and force a Super Over but RCB wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel ran Shardul Thakur out at the striker’s end.
Unreal stuff at the Chinnaswamy stadium as @RCBTweets keep the fight going 💪#RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/drxLIP5nzf
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 21, 2019
“A whole lot of emotions,” said Virat Kohli when asked about what he was going through his mind during the last-ball thriller.
“We were outstanding with the ball until the 19th over mark. On the last ball, that (run-out) was the last thing I would have expected to happen. Feels good to win a game by a small margin. MS did what he does best and he gave us all a massive scare,” said the RCB skipper at the post-match presentation ceremony.
The great man almost pulled off another miracle, and during his 84* (48) in which he smashed 7 maximums, @msdhoni went past 200 sixes in #VIVOIPL #RCBvCSK pic.twitter.com/sL91jc1ZoT
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 21, 2019
“A lot of boundaries were needed, right now you can calculate, one run there, and two runs there and we just lost by one run. But you can also say we missed some boundaries,” Dhoni said.