How 'Thala' Dhoni plotted Rohit Sharma's second consecutive duck in IPL 2023?

MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma (Pic: @ipl/Twitter/BCCI)

Rohit Sharma's lean patch with willow continued as Chennai Super Kings broke a 13-year-old home jinx against Mumbai Indians with an easy six-wicket victory on Saturday. The Team India skipper's horrid run in IPL since the last edition continued as he failed to trouble the scorer for the second match in succession with MI scoring a below-par 139 for 8 against an inspired performance from the CSK pace and seam troika of Deepak Chahar (2/18 in 4 overs), Man of the match Matheesha Pathirana (3/15 in 4 overs) and Tushar Deshpande (2/25 in 4 overs).

However, Rohit, in the process, registered an unwanted record for most ducks in the history of the cash-rich league. Though the 36-year-old chose to bat at No. 3 today, his new batting position didn't change his fortunes as he departed for a duck for the second consecutive time in IPL 2023.

But do you know it was MS Dhoni's tactful captaincy that led to Rohit's dismissal? As the MI captain was back on the crease on the fourth delivery of the third over, Dhoni, upon realising Rohit wasn't comfortable on the crease, decided to restrict his movement by walking up the stumps during Deepak Chahar's delivery. Rohit, eager to score his first runs off the willow, attempted a careless lap shot. As the ball proceeded to the gully, he threw his wicket by giving a simple catch to Ravindra Jadeja.

Also Read: Bleeding Yellow! CSK break 'Chepauk jinx' against Mumbai Indians after 13 years

In the MI innings, a maiden half-century in IPL by left-handed batter Nehal Wadhera (64, 51 balls, 8x4, 1x6) and his half-century partnerships with Suryakumar Yadav (26) and Tristan Stubbs (20) helped salvage things for MI, which lost three wickets by the third over and reach 139 for 8.

After opting to bowl, CSK bowlers left MI in disarray, reducing the opposition to 16 for 3 by the end of the third over.

Chahar picked up the wickets of Ishan Kishan (7, 9 balls, 1x4) and MI skipper Rohit Sharma (0, 3 balls) while Tushar Deshpande provided the first breakthrough by removing the dangerous Cameron Green, getting him bowled for 6 (4 balls, 1 four).

MI lost three wickets in space of 7 deliveries whilst scoring only 1 run and looked in deep trouble before Surya (26, 22 balls, 3x4) and Wadhera began the rescue act.

(With PTI inputs)