WATCH: MS Dhoni ‘Scares’ Deepak Chahar With A ‘Slap’ Before Match Against Delhi Capitals

MS Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings thrashed Delhi Capitals by 27 runs in an IPL 2023 match on Wednesday night to consolidate their second position on the Points Table.

Photo: IANS

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni has always been ‘Captain Cool’ on the field but off the field he is ‘Captain Fun’ even at 41 years of age. The former India captain has been toying with bowling attack in the IPL 2023, with a strike-rate of over 204 this season and has taken his side to the brink of Playoffs qualification with a 27-run win over Delhi Capitals at the Chepauk on Wednesday night.

After winning the toss and electing to bat first, Dhoni was up to his usual ‘fun and games’ before heading towards the dressing. A video on social media went viral with Dhoni ‘scaring’ pacer Deepak Chahar with a ‘mock slap’ at the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai.

Dhoni walked past Chahar and tried to prank the 30-year-old all-rounder. Dhoni tried to slap the back of Chahar’s head in a hilarious moment. However, the Indian pacer dodged the slap at the last moment.

WATCH MS Dhoni trying to ‘slap’ Deepak Chahar HERE…

Hahah! looks like Dhoni likes to toy around Deepak chahar always ___#CSKvDC #MSDhoni pic.twitter.com/ifoYHL1a2W — Gnanashekar (@Gnanashekar) May 10, 2023

Meanwhile, in the match, Dhoni came up with another brilliant cameo, smashing 20 off 9 balls with two sixes in an over off DC pacer Khaleel Ahmed. CSK posted 167 for 8 after batting first and restricted David Warner’s DC to 140.

Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ajinkya Rahane, Shivam Dube, Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja joined Dhoni in the 20-run club, with Dube’s 25 runs being the most (12b, 3x6). Delhi had a poor start, losing their Top-3 with just 25 runs on board. Rilee Rossouw put up a resilient 35 runs (37b, 2x4, 1x6) but simply couldn’t score fast enough to reach the target.

JioCinema’s IPL expert Graeme Smith recognized the incredible pressure under which Dhoni plays, “The pressure on him every time he goes to bat is enormous. The roars every time he gets on strike, and the crowd goes berserk. It’s incredible to watch, this season, he has found his best again. Khaleel was bowling really well until that over against MS, he kind of read the play and had him under pressure. Once he hit that one down the ground, you could just see Khaleel, he didn’t think he’d get it going. That put him under pressure. 20 off 9, strike rate of over 220, just the impetus he and Jadeja gave that inning, that 160 total created pressure.” 

This win allows Chennai to improve their tally of wins on the season to seven, trailing the reigning champions and current table topper Gujarat Titans by just a point. JioCinema’s IPL expert Parthiv Patel laid out what CSK could be aiming for to solidify their qualification.

“We had discussed that a win today would almost guarantee qualification for the playoffs and they can focus on trying to finish one or two. Finish one or two will ensure they play a match in Chennai, so we could see Chennai play in the finals once again. We know how they have played here. Look at their batting tonight, Shivam Dube led all scorers with 25 runs, with others getting around 20 to 22 and we still saw a total of 167. The way they fielded, bowled, everything looks to be going fine. That’s why the team can aim for finishing first or second,” Parthiv Patel said.