5 occasions when MS Dhoni failed to finish a run chase

5) India vs New Zealand – 2^nd T20I, September 11, 2012 (New Zealand won by 1 run)

MS Dhoni misses a shot against New Zealand

New Zealand and India had to win just one match to claim the two-game T20I series as the first match had been abandoned without a ball being bowled. Playing in his IPL backyard of Chennai, MS Dhoni won the toss and put the Kiwis in for a bat. Marshalling his bowling unit, comprising Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan, Laxmipathy Balaji and Ravichandran Aswhin, Dhoni managed to restrict New Zealand to just 167 with Brendon McCullum scoring 91 from 55 balls.

A strange batting pair of Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli was sent out for the chase and the former was dismissed in the third over. Kohli, India’s rising batting superstar, scored a fabulous 70 from 41 balls to setup what looked like a certain win for the home side. Yuvraj Singh, the man who had defeated cancer, marked his return with a memorable 34 from 26 balls but it did not prove to be enough.

Dhoni, who came into bat in the 14^th over, played a rather uncharacteristic and slow innings of 22 from 23 balls, which put pressure on other batsmen. The policy of strike rotation was feasible but the lack of boundaries hurt India in the game. India needed 13 off the last over and Dhoni brought it down to 8 from four balls. However, a single on third delivery turned out to be fatal as he remained stranded on the non-striker’s end as India lost by just one run.