One of the best matches in T20 Cricket

I saw one of the best cricket matches last night especially in T20 series which is the shortest and  the latest version of game of cricket. It again came from the bat of MS Dhoni who displayed his continued love for taking it up to until the last ball is bowled and it was again the same his last ball sixes as India’s limited over’s captain finished his campaign in the latest IPL edition in such a great style by hitting two off two sixes off the last two balls and win the game for his team “Rising Pune Super giants”.

It was almost impossible as Pune required an impossible looking 23 from the last over and “Rising Pune Super giants” had almost no chance of winning the games but Dhoni had different ideas. I wanted to switch off the television but I somehow kept watching on and when the first ball was a dot and brought nothing for RPS it was even more disappointing. The defeat looked sure for my favorite side as it was left to score 23 in 5 balls then.

Axar Patel is a good bowler and he was incharge of the last ball as he was doing the duty for Punjab team the “Mohali Super Kings” who is known to bowl responsibly especially the over but this was Dhoni on strike with different ideas. As Axar bowled the first ball without conceding any runs the chances  of Punjab brightened even further but the second ball was a wide by Axar that added a single and 5 balls still remained.

As the second legal delivery was bowled by Axar Dhoni hit it with all his might and smashed and it went sailing over the ropes into the stands to the delight of fans although I could not decide whether I should enjoy it being a fan of Dhoni or feel bad being a Punjabi. However it eased off some of the pressure from “Rising Pune Super giants” for sure. Now the equation came down to 16 off 4 that was still a tall order according to me.

Then came a dramatic moment when Dhoni hit the 3^rd ball to the boundary but the opener from Punjab at guard duty at boundary stopped it from crossing over the ropes and Dhoni who could have added at least 2 did not run for that so the equation became even tougher at 3 balls, 16 runs. Dhoni did not run any as he was sure he had hit a boundary shot.

The skipper nearly scored a boundary off the third but a brilliant fielding effort in the deep by Hashim Amla from South Africa denied Pune crucial four runs. Dhoni was confident that it would reach the ropes and didn’t bother running. It resulted in another dot ball. However fourth ball went for a four and 12 runs required off last 2 balls of the match. Only a miracle could have turned the match in favor of Pune side.

But Dhoni hit the fifth ball for a long six which sat pretty inside the spectators area for a while for a six but now it was the biggest suspense of the game as the Pune side needed nothing lesser than a six of the last ball. The captain of Punjab had a long time before sending the last ball to Dhoni who hit right over the mid-wicket with a mighty swing of his bat with brutal force that he posses even at the fag-end of his cricketing career and won the match for his team.

Image source https://pixabay.com/en/cricket-bat-cricketer-player-33064/