NEW DELHI: Royal Challengers Bengaluru pulled a rabbit out of the hat on Saturday by sneaking into the IPL playoffs with a 27-run victory over the Chennai Super Kings at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Saturday. And the RCB veteran Dinesh Karthik believes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a role to play in RCB securing playoffs spot.
“The best thing to happen today was Dhoni hitting that six outside the ground,” Karthik told his RCB teammates in a fun debrief after the RCB vs CSK game. He was referring to Dhoni hitting the first ball of Yash Dayal’s 20th over for a massive 110m six.
It was a sixer that inadvertently turned around the ship for RCB. CSK needed to get just 17 runs off the last over, which was bowled by Dayal. If they had managed to get 17 runs in the final over, CSK would have made it to the Playoffs even with a loss to RCB.
How did Dhoni’s six help RCB win against CSK?
The first ball from Dayal went perfectly as per CSK’s plan. Dhoni, bowled a full toss on his pads, sent the ball into orbit. The ball travelled 110 metres and eventually landed into the stands. But the force of the hit led to the ball being changed.
Karthik explained how the six had helped them. “We got a new ball, which was much better to bowl with”
Karthik also gently ribbed Dayal for bowling a juicy full-toss to Dhoni in the first place. “Yash, that was good bowling. You have a doubt, always bowl a high, hip-high, full-toss, on leg stump. Wherever he is, it’s a good mantra to follow when the ball is wet,” he smiled.
After the ball was changed, Dayal got Dhoni out on the next ball itself with a back-of-the-hand slower ball, which caught Dhoni off the pace and the batter ended up edging the ball with the toe end. Swapnil Singh accepted the catch at deep backward square leg.
CSK could manage only one run off their last four balls, when they needed just 11 runs to qualify.
“We all know how proud our franchisee is and how our fans are. I think we gave them a treat to watch. Also, you’ve got to understand the gravity of this game. If you do take head-to-head, I think CSK-RCB has been one of the most marquee games of this tournament for many, many years now. And it’s only fair to say, I think, there have been many close games, but they have found a way sometimes to just get ahead of us,” Karthik said.
Agencies