3 instances when MS Dhoni finished an IPL game with a six

The reason why T20 is such a favourite to many is because of the raining sixes and sliding boundaries that put people on the edge of their seats. This is why fans have more expectations from some players than others.

For instance, people—even non-cricket loving ones—take a keen interest in watching AB de Villiers bat in T20s. Among others, MS Dhoni used to generate a lot of buzz as well.

The term “used to” has been used in a painful context here. There was once a time when MS Dhoni could hammer any ball out of the park. His beautiful silky hair was well complemented with his incredible ability to smash the ball with brute strength.

However, he is no longer the same batsman that he once was as captaincy has made him more restrained than fans would have liked. One thing, though, hasn’t changed: he still likes finishing games by hitting the ball over the fence.

In the IPL, he has done it thrice and here are those moments where he did…

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IPL 2008 against Kolkata Knight Riders

He christened the IPL with his touch in its very first edition itself. Kolkata Knight Riders batted first and put down an under par score 147 runs. It needed a late-innings blast from Laxmi Ratan Shukla to reach that total as, at one point, it seemed like breaking the barrier of 120 wasn’t possible.

However, it didn’t matter as Chennai Super Kings won the game with the utmost ease, a 9 wicket win with 3 overs to spare was a testament to that.

The ending to that game was done by placing a cherry on top of the cake. MS Dhoni was facing Murali Karthik, who was bowling his last ball of the over. Chennai Super Kings needed 2 runs to win and MS Dhoni finished it in style by hammering the ball down the ground and over the long on for a beautiful six.

IPL 2010 against Kings XI Punjab

This was a more impressive knock than the earlier one as the circumstances were much harder than that game. A Shaun Marsh inspired Kings XI Punjab put up a solid total of 192 for the Super Kings to chase down.

The chase was always going to difficult, but Suresh Raina and Subramaniam Badrinath provided MS Dhoni a perfect platform to do what he does best: finish the game off in style.

With 45 needed off the last 20 balls, MS Dhoni turned up the heat. Irfan Pathan came in to bowl the last over. 16 runs were needed off it and he got there by hitting a boundary and 2 consecutive sixes—completing a brilliant chase with 2 balls sparing in the process.

IPL 2016 against Kings XI Punjab

And we had to wait for 6 years to see a game finish with a six by the Ranchi man. This IPL has been one to forget for the Indian ODI team captain as his team were the first one to get knocked out of the tournament.

However, that didn’t stop him from finishing his last game of the tournament with style.

Among the three, this was the best since the difficulty of acquiring the win from the circumstances that he was in was near-impossible—and yet he did it.

Chasing 173, Rising Pune Supergiants needed 23 off the last over. If that wasn’t enough of a gargantuan task, Dhoni left it to the last 2 balls where his team needed 12 runs.

2 sixes from 2 balls—is that even possible? Yes, for MS Dhoni, it was. He smashed two sixes of the final two to seal off arguably the best chase in IPL’s history.