IPL: 4 times when MS Dhoni was the lone fighter in CSK's defeat

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is arguably the most celebrated cricketer in the history of the Indian Premier League. Since 2008, his contribution in helping the Chennai Super Kings build a brand for themselves cannot be measured.

The Captain Cool has been the standout during CSK's years of glory and there is no denying that. He always puts the team ahead of himself and leads from the front whenever he steps on the field.

In the past, there have been numerous occasions when Dhoni has raised his own battles when the rest of the CSK team has faltered miserably. Let us take a look at the instances when Dhoni has been the lone warrior in CSK's defeats.

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#4 70* off 40 balls vs Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2011

MS Dhoni: Rescuing the CSK since 2008.

It was 2011. The Chennai Super Kings were playing the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. As usual, the expectations were very high from the CSK batting line-up in a bitter clash of IPL arch-rivals but the batting unit of the CSK failed to deliver.

MS Dhoni came to bat when the CSK were reeling at 22/4 and held the innings together from there on. He single-handedly propelled the score to a modest 128/8 with his 40-ball 70* including 3 fours and 6 sixes.

Wriddhiman Saha was the only other batsman to cross the score of 20 that day. Other than that it was MSD all the way! The Royal Challengers cruised to a victory in a cakewalk run chase but the crowd was treated with a Dhoni special that day.

Brief Scores: CSK 128/8 (Dhoni 70*, Saha 22; Vettori 2/15) lost to RCB 129/2 (Gayle 75*, Kohli 31*; Morkel 1/16) by 8 wickets.

#3 79* off 44 balls vs Kings XI Punjab in 2018

Dhoni has shown great ability to play with injuries.

The Chennai Super Kings in their comeback year were playing an away fixture against the Kings XI Punjab at Mohali. After the CSK bowlers took a beating, the batting line-up had a stingy task on hand to chase 198.

After losing 3 quick wickets, MSD came in with a lot of work still left to be done. He played a counter-attacking innings as batsmen from the other end kept on consuming deliveries. Despite of being injured, he still battled through and continued to fight hard.

In the end, the score proved too much for him and CSK fell 4 runs short. Dhoni's 79* off 44 is his one of his greatest innings in the IPL so far, as everyone loved to watch the captain lead by example.

Brief Scores: KXIP 197/7 (Gayle 63, Rahul 37; Thakur 2/22) beat CSK (Dhoni 79*, Rayudu 49; Tye 2/47) by 4 runs.

#2 51* off 26 balls vs Mumbai Indians in 2013

MSD has been Mumbai's eternal nemesis.

The Mumbai Indians have managed to keep the CSK quite on many occasions. However, there is one nut they have found tough to crack and that is none other than MSD!

In the opening encounter of 2013, the CSK batting line-up showed vulnerability after the bowlers restricted the MI to a partly 148. Just when it seemed things could get worse, Dhoni stepped in.

At 66/5. Dhoni started taking the attack to the opposition and kept the CSK in the hunt till the very last over. Unfortunately, he couldn't finish it off and departed after scoring 51 off 26 deliveries. Had the rest of the batting showed some support, this would have been an easy run chase.

Brief scores: MI 148/6 (Pollard 57*, Karthik 37; Bravo 2/44) beat CSK 139/8 (Dhoni 51, Hussey 20; M Patel 3/29) by 9 runs.

#1 63* off 45 balls vs Mumbai Indians in the IPL final 2013

The IPL final innings of MS Dhoni was special.

It was the final of the IPL 2013! The stage was big and the CSK were playing their arch-rivals Mumbai Indians as they were hunting for their third title.

After the bowlers put up a good show restricting the MI to 148, the Chennai Super Kings lost wickets in clusters at the top and were reeling at 58/8 at one stage. The match was virtually over but not the fight from MSD.

Dhoni smashed the MI bowlers all around the park as he brought up his fifty in the IPL final. From the other end, he got no substantial contribution from CSK lower order. He finished on 63* off 45 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes and prevented what could have been an utter humiliation. Once again, it was the captain who stepped up when no one else did.

Brief scores: MI 148/9 (Pollard 60*, Rayudu 37; Bravo 4/42) beat CSK 125/9 (Dhoni 63*, Vijay 18; Harbhajan 2/14) by 23 runs.