The Chinnaswamy Stadium was covered in a sea of yellow as CSK and RCB gave their supporters another thrilling game.
The color yellow predominated throughout M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Hundreds of supporters had formed a line at the ticket window hours before the highly anticipated match between RCB and CSK. They wanted to attempt while knowing they would be rejected.
Similar enthusiasm was present earlier at the team hotel two kilometers away. Once fans filled the ground-floor coffee shop, security personnel were instructed to limit admission to hotel guests exclusively. The coffee shop quickly deserted as they waited for one man to exit the elevator and proceed down the long path to the team bus. Everyone had headed straight for MS Dhoni.
You could have been forgiven for thinking that this was the Chepauk or another location in Chennai given the hordes of CSK fans that had descended upon Bengaluru.
After all, it was Dhoni versus Kohli. Given that the two teams don’t have a second league match this year, they may meet in the playoffs for the final time in the IPL.
The only true “home advantage” that RCB has is the support of the audience. not the small boundaries or the level pitch. The percentage of yellow jerseys at the Chinnaswamy suggested that the crowd’s support had at most diminished to 50-50. Since the epidemic, the two teams hadn’t played each other in Bengaluru, and this matchup is known for its high-intensity action.
It was the same on Monday night. For the second time in a row, CSK and RCB hit 33 sixes in a single IPL match. On the last occasion, Dhoni entered the chase with 132 needed off of 66 and hit seven maximums by himself.
That evening, Mohammed Siraj struggled, losing 48 runs in four overs without picking up a wicket. He continuously tried to hit wide yorkers, but Dhoni’s strong bat stroke destroyed them. However, the significantly improved Siraj who came in yesterday night was possibly the reason RCB were chasing 227 and not 247. His economy in the powerplay before this game was 4.70, and against CSK, he was even more frugal, going 1 for 6 in his first two overs.
Dhoni, who doesn’t speak much on the field often, was spotted talking to his fast bowlers a lot last night. He is accustomed to calling on the expertise of Dwayne Bravo and Deepak Chahar, but now CSK’s batters, Tushar Deshpande, Akash Singh, and Matheesha Pathirana, are inexperienced and battling the RCB batters’ rampage. Wonky knees be damned, Dhoni gave his rookie players guidance and frequently gave them pats on the back. A game needed to be won.
Dhoni allayed any concerns CSK fans may have had that Theekshana would have to catch the ball by calling for it himself and motioning for everyone else to move out of the way when his first opportunity to redeem himself presented itself — a steepling catch off a Maxwell slog. However, he refrained from celebrating and instead went to the umpire to inform them of how near the spider-cam cables the ball had come to making contact.
Then Dhoni did something many strangers. Despite the fact that it was obvious that Theekshana’s ball had pitched well outside Shahbaz Ahmed’s leg stump, the decision to not dismiss him by lbw was reviewed. In the 13th over, RCB were still in the lead with 143 for 3.
The hunt then took a dramatic turn. Moeen Ali had just bowled flat and short and had been hammered for two sixes. While the ball was being retrieved, you couldn’t tell what Dhoni instructed his bowler, but Moeen started giving his delivery more air right away. Two balls later, he forced du Plessis to edge a shot over the top. The Maxwell dismissal was very similar to this steepling opportunity, which Dhoni again called and caught.
The most Dhoni-like move was saved for last, when he supported ‘baby Malinga’ to defend 19 in the final over of his maiden game of the season. And it wasn’t until 20-year-old Pathirana sealed an eight-run victory and the crowd went wild that Dhoni’s face showed the beginnings of a smile.
