Former India spinner Harbhajan Singh described his former compatriot MS Dhoni as “Baahubali” after he pulled off a successful heist to end Chennai Super Kings’ five-match losing streak by orchestrating a five-wicket triumph against Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025. Dhoni was the mastermind behind Chennai regaining its lost mojo and returning to winning ways in Lucknow. He pulled the strings behind the stumps and effectively regulated his bowlers, restricting the Super Giants to 166/7.
During Chennai’s pursuit of the 167-run target, the Super Kings were tottering at 111/5 with 56 runs still required from the last five overs. Dhoni, who has been heavily criticised for coming out too low to bat, stepped up to lead his side from the front.
He mapped a blueprint for Chennai’s success and executed it perfectly with Shivam Dube to strike down CSK’s losing streak. The 43-year-old returned unbeaten on 26 from 11 deliveries, laced with four boundaries and a sole one-handed maximum.
“MS Dhoni is Baahubali. We say this because he knows what to do. He came to bat at the right place and at the right time, putting the pressure back on Lucknow. When Dhoni takes the captaincy role, he is completely different. The team under him plays differently,” he said on his YouTube channel.
Harbhajan was mesmerised by Dhoni’s tactical prowess and believes that when the Indian stalwart takes up the captaincy role, he transforms into a different player.
The former ball tweaker traced Lucknow’s costly mistakes, which contributed to their downfall. Harbhajan felt Lucknow’s management was guilty of holding David Miller for too long in the first innings.
“I think the management made a mistake by sending Badoni early and then Abdul Samand while David Miller was present. He (Miller) is a proven match-winner, and he can take the game away from the opposition, but they didn’t send him early,” he said.
The second mistake he pointed out was waiving off leg-break Ravi Bishnoi’s final over of the four over quota. Bishnoi was running rampant with figures of 2/18 in his three overs. When the equation came down to 56 needed in 30 deliveries, Harbhajan felt LSG skipper Rishabh Pant should have used Bishnoi instead of interesting his faith in a monotonous pace attack.
“One tactical mistake Pant made was that Bishnoi had one over left. With almost 50 runs required in five overs, Bishnoi should have bowled his over. He used fast bowlers with the tactic of bowling on wide yorker length,” he added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
Topics mentioned in this article
