Once again on March 23, a 43-year-old MS Dhoni turned back the clock when he pulled off a lightning fast stumping to get the wicket Mumbai Indians’ (MI) Suryakumar Yadav at the important phase of inning.
The stumping of Suryakumar at the score of 29 was done by Dhoni as a crucial juncture in the match on Sunday. By getting rid of Suryakumar, CSK broke a 51-run stand and eventually restricted Mumbai Indians to 155/9. In reply, CSK chased down the target with four wickets in hand and five balls to spare.
The stumping was executed in just 0.12 seconds, which phenomenal.
When asked, Dhoni mentioned on why keeping wickets is important to him
“It’s a challenge, you know, and that’s what makes it interesting and also the fact that if I’m not wicketkeeping, I think I’m useless on the field. Because that’s where I read the game in the best possible manner. I have to be really close to the game, for the angles, to see how the bowler is bowling, how the wicket is behaving”
“In the first six overs with the new ball, the wicket behaves differently. After that, has it changed or it remains the same, all these things, when I’m right behind the stump, I’m in a better position to judge what really is happening and then to convey to the captain as to this is what is happening, whether it’s a bad delivery that has gone for a 6 or it’s a good delivery that the batsman has hit for a 6. I can differentiate between the two when I’m behind the stumps”
Meanwhile, former India spinner Piyush Chawla feels Dhoni must have practiced with Noor during pre-season camp.
“It does happen, it is a challenge if you have not kept against somebody. But I’m sure in the camp, he must have kept a lot of balls because if he’s keeping for somebody new, he especially takes that person to the stumps and says, you bowl a few balls,” said Chawla.
“(It has) not (happened) with me because I have bowled against him so many times and bowled to him in the nets also. But whenever somebody new comes, especially a wristspinner, he just makes sure he’s keeping 10-12 balls so that he gets used to the wrist position,”
Dhoni walked out to bat at no.8 in the run chase after Ravindra Jadeja’s dismissal in the penultimate over. However, Dhoni played two dot balls to end the over and opener Rachin Ravindra finished the run chase with a six on the first ball of last over. We will see Dhoni next in action when CSK take on Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at home on March 28.