IPL History: Five instances when MS Dhoni's captaincy worked wonders for CSK

#2 IPL 2012 - Attacking Sachin's discomfort zone

Dhoni's strategy of plotting left-arm spinner against Sachin worked wonders. Picture Courtesy: BCCI

Chennai kept their 100% playoff qualification record intact after sneaking through into it with a better net run-rate. They faced arch-rivals Mumbai Indians in the Eliminator of the 2012 season. Batting first, Chennai were off to a horrible start as they two wickets for just one run.

Subramaniam Badrinath and Mike Hussey steadied the innings with a 94-run stand. When Ravindra Jadeja got out, Chennai was at 114-5 with five overs to spare. Dwayne Bravo was promoted ahead of Albie Morkel to the surprise of everyone since the South African had played some powerful cameos in 2012.

The move reaped rewards as the duo smashed 73 in the last five overs. Chasing 187, it was interesting to see Sachin Tendulkar take the first strike. CSK's skipper sprung another surprise by giving the new ball to Shadab Jakati. Knowing Tendulkar's discomfort against the left-arm spinners, Captain Cool came up with this ploy.

Tendulkar found it difficult to rotate the strike as he was eventually run-out. The Goa spinner's spell of 4-0-25-1 never let the Mumbai batsmen score as they fell short of the target by 38 runs.

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