When MS Dhoni sent Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar in the middle order in KXIP vs CSK match from IPL 2018 [Watch]

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni has never shied away from experimenting, even in the highest-pressure games. Yet, even by his standards, it was a curveball of epic proportions when Dhoni sent Harbhajan Singh and Deepak Chahar higher up the order at a crucial phase in the 2018 IPL season.

The game in question was CSK taking on the Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) in Pune towards the end of the league stage. Chasing a modest 154 for victory, the Men in Yellow were in early trouble at 27/3 in the fifth over.

With the crowd looking for one of Dhoni or Ravindra Jadeja to walk into bat, in came Harbhajan at No.5. The experiment went a step further when Chahar came into bat at the fall of Harbhajan's wicket at 58/4 in the 11th over.

Here is a clip of the stunning scenes when two of CSK's lower-order batters came into bat early in a stiff run chase:

Despite initially being questioned for such an outlandish move, the double promotions worked wonders for CSK. Harbhajan steadied the ship with a 22-ball 19, while Chahar fared even better with a game-changing 39 off 20 deliveries.

Dhoni then calmly came in at No.7 with 40 needed off 23 deliveries and finished the job, scoring an unbeaten 7-ball 16. CSK prevailed in the final over with five wickets and as many balls to spare.

"With Bhajji and Chahar going in - it creates a bit of chaos" - MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni explained the rationale behind sending Deepak Chahar and Harbhajan Singh up the order at the post-match presentation. He felt the presence of unconventional hitters instead of proper batters could disturb the KXIP bowlers' lines and lengths with the amount of movement on offer.

"If you see the bowling line up it was swinging a bit. In a game like this you want to take a lot of wickets while it is swinging. So with Bhajji and Chahar going in - it creates a bit of chaos. With proper batsmen the bowlers are consistent, somehow to lower order players they try the bouncers, offcutters," said Dhoni (via ESPN Cricinfo).

The win was crucial for CSK to finish in the top two, which they ultimately did with 18 points in 14 outings. The side subsequently went on to win their third IPL title in their comeback season after a two-year absence, defeating the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final.