How often do you need three results to go your way against
the run of play and that is exactly what happens? Well call him lucky or
whatever it has happened for Dhoni again. After Chargers crushed Rajasthan’s
hopes and Delhi put an end to Punjab’s run it was left to Bangalore to stop
Chennai from going into another finals.
Till the break
everything seemed to be going well and only Duminy’s innings was an aberration
to Bangalore’s largely dominating bowling performance. Chennai players had
almost booked an early flight home when the Gayle storm started early this time
round with Gony’s first over going for 25. What happened next can be best
termed as an act of GOD as calamity like never seen before hit the RCB players.
Steyn bowled scintillatingly well and set up Gayle to bring the game back into
balance. A few balls later Dilshan also followed suit and it was left to AB and
Kohli to salvage the ruins. A mistimed shot from AB and Aggarwal’s dismissal
brought on crease the injured Tiwary who had already gone back to the pavilion
retired earlier in the match. Just when RCB were looking to finish off the
match with only 24 off 30 remaining and Tiwary and Kohli going strong Kohli
skied one and was caught in mid on. From a player who is generally known to
finish games it was unexpected and disappointing and from being down and out
Chennai was certainly into the playoffs again.
Some might argue that Dhoni has lost his midas touch as well
as his ability to finish off games after the recent drubbings in Australia and
England. In fact both in Australia and Asia cup while the entire nation waited
with baited breath for the desired result both results went against India
against the run off play. Dhoni’s indifferent form made the whispers turn into
a large clutter from a cricket crazy nation. IPL gave no respite to Dhoni as
comparisons were made between Dhoni and Ganguly, two of the most successful
captains of India. Dhoni continued with his indifferent form and talks were
even there about what Dhoni had done to deserve a place in the team.
While he has not done anything on an individual level to
answer his detractors but his two fours and one six against the Kolkata Knight
Riders at a crucial juncture surely returned a semblance of sanity among his
critics. And while the loss to Punjab was supposed to spell doom for Chennai
somehow it did not and they held on to that ray of hope to qualify. Surely,
Dhoni’s midas touch is coming back.
Is Dhoni back in form? Probably, not till now but surely it
is around the corner. Is Dhoni’s midas touch back? Yes yes and I hope he will
prove me right today. As an Indian cricket fan I hope to dear GOD he proves me
right. Dhoni has a knack of firing when the chips are down - Remember the World
Cup Finals.
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