Dhoni’s finish an extraordinary effort: Fleming

With Kings XI Punjab in the belief that they had the match under their control, Supergiants’ skipper MS Dhoni unleashed something special, which caught Axar Patel and his team unaware. An immaculate display of fireworks that the Indian limited overs skipper is associated with more often than not. 

Starting off with a dot and with Axar bowling a wide, Supergiants needed 22 off five deliveries. What followed was absolute carnage when Dhoni clobbered the leftarm spinner for a six over deep mid-wicket. 

Hashim Amla came to the party with a stupendous effort in the outfield to deny Dhoni a double, but the batsman got the ball flying to the advertising boards in a flash that bisected long-off and deep cover with surgical precision. 

Supergiants needed 12 off the last two deliveries but the cool-headed Dhoni reserved his best for the last, smashing the next two deliveries well clear of the mid-wicket boundary to hand Kings XI Punjab the wooden spoon. 

Supergiants’ coach Stephen Fleming was in awe of Dhoni’s innings. “I think Dhoni is pretty remarkable, which probably covered up the performances that were below par,” he said.

“While we chased down 170, we were stuttering along. But individual brilliances helped us crossed the line. What we have been missing through the campaign were the special moments where players play match-winning innings. Steve Smith played a couple. MS played one here. We have been good, but we were not outstanding. MS was outstanding and that is the difference between winning and losing,” the coach added.

Meanwhile, Dwayne Bravo of Gujarat Lions team was fined 50% of his match fee for breaching the IPL Code of Conduct.