5 Occasions where MS Dhoni’s missed stumpings cost his teams

MS Dhoni is well known for his skill in affecting stumpings irrespective of the format and the level at which he played. His fast hands behind the stumps caught many batsmen short of the crease. He holds the record for most stumpings in International cricket and stands as the only one with over 100 stumpings in the ODI format.

However, there were times where even Dhoni missed the opportunity of getting the batsmen stumped. Few of those returned to haunt Dhoni’s teams as the batsman with reprieve turned out to be the hero for the opposition team.

Here we look at a few instances where MS Dhoni’s missed stumpings cost the victories of India and CSK:

5. T20I vs Australia in 2012, Sydney

During the 2011-12 tour of Australia, the Indian team came into the 2-match T20I series after being whitewashed in the 4-match Test series. India kept down the hosts to 85/2 during the first T20I hosted by the Sydney’s ANZ Stadium (Stadium Australia). Debutant Rahul Sharma was keeping it tight against the new batsman David Hussey in the 12th over.

Hussey was beaten by a delivery stranded down the leg-side after three successive dots and moved outside the crease but MS Dhoni failed to collect the ball. Across three overs after the miscue, Australia smashed seven boundaries including three sixes. Hussey struck his first six in the 15th over bowled by Rahul. Once again, the leg-spinner managed to deceive a leg-side delivery and Dhoni missed a stumping chance yet again.

David Hussey ended up with 42 from 30 balls as Australia posted 171/4 in their 20 overs. India crawled to 140/6 after losing their top-order by halfway stage. India let the Aussies score at least 15 runs more through Hussey on a pitch where only new batsmen scored well.

4. T20I vs South Africa in 2018, Centurion:

After losing the Test series in South Africa, the Indian team bounced back by winning the ODI series by 5-1 margin. They began the 3-match T20I series with a comfortable win in Johannesburg. Manish Pandey and MS Dhoni’s unbeaten fifties powered India to 188/4 in their 20 overs. South Africa didn’t get best of starts in the chase as they lost both their openers in first five overs scoring only 38 runs.

The burden was left over skipper JP Duminy and Heinrich Klaasen with the required rate already close to 11. Duminy anchored the chase while Klaasen took on the Indian bowling especially Yuzvendra Chahal. The keeper-batsman struck 41 runs across 12 balls he faced off the leg-spinner. It looked the Proteas would walk through the chase at a point but Klaasen and David Miller got out in consecutive overs.

The equation for the home team came down to 47 from the last 5 overs. Chahal was hit for a boundary on the very first ball by Duminy in the 16th over but beat him on the following ball. The ball brushed JPD’s pads and went down the leg-side but Dhoni failed to collect the ball. As a result, the South African skipper escaped from being stumped despite going down at least two meters from the crease. The next four balls yielded for nine runs as Chahal finished with figures of 4-0-64-0.

An economical 17th over from Bhuvneshwar Kumar was followed by Shardul and Unadkat’s costly overs. As a result, South Africa chased down the target in 18.4 overs. Bhuvi was left to bowl one more over despite being the most economical bowler of the game conceding only 19 runs in 3 overs. Duminy finished unbeaten on 64 from 40 balls as he scored 24 runs from 10 balls after the stumping reprieve.

3. IPL match vs Kolkata Knight Riders in 2015, Kolkata

Chennai Super Kings took on the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens during the 2015 edition of IPL. CSK lost Dwayne Smith on the very first ball of the match after losing the toss. Brendon McCullum blasted 32 from only 12 balls against his former team but CSK found themselves at 72/5 by end of the 7th over. Lower order contributions helped CSK to finish with 165/9 in their 20 overs. In response, KKR were limited to 66/3 at the halfway stage and still needed 100 runs from the last 10 overs.

At the end of 9th over, Robin Uthappa tried to drive a fuller delivery down the ground. In this process, he came down the pitch but missed the line of the ball. However, the CSK’s keeper-captain MS Dhoni failed to hold on to the ball and missed a stumping chance. Uthappa was only 28 off 26 balls at that point. The KKR’s wicketkeeper then got support from Andre Russell as the duo kept the home team in contention to win. The duo kept finding the boundaries regularly to keep the RRR below nine runs.

Their unbeaten partnership of 112 in 54 balls took KKR over the winning line on the penultimate ball of the match. Russell scored 55* from only 32 balls and was named player of the match for picking up two crucial wickets as well. Robbie ended with an unbeaten 80 off 58 deliveries by scoring 52 runs in 32 balls after Dhoni missed a stumping. Uthappa’s marathon knock helped Russell to play freely by seeing through the majority of overs bowled by the spinners.

2. ODI vs Australia in 2017, Bangalore

Australia toured India in 2017 for a 5-match ODI series and a 3-match T20I series soon after the hosts returned from trashing Sri Lanka in all formats. India was dominant in the series as they won each of their first three games of the ODI series. The two sides clashed in Bangalore for the 4th ODI after India took a series-winning lead of 3-0. The Australian openers Aaron Finch and David Warner put on a big partnership after winning the toss. The opening stand was going at 6+ runs an over even after 20 overs.

During 23rd over, a ball from Yuzvendra Chahal turned into Aaron Finch who got beaten as the ball went over the leg stump. Finch was outside the crease by a couple of steps but Dhoni failed to grab the ball which raced to the boundary costing India four byes. After surviving the stumping chance, Finch scored 47 runs in only 38 balls before he was eventually dismissed in the 36th over. The opening stand was extended to 231 in 35 overs when Warner got out after scoring a 119-ball 124.

The new batsmen failed to get going as Australia made only 103 runs in the last 15 overs and finished with 334/5. India had their moments in the chase as they stood 66 runs away from a win in 44 balls with six wickets in hand. But the pitch began to wear out by then and shot-making became tough for the hosts. As a result, they could only post 313/8 in their 50 overs and lost the match by 21 runs. India could have restricted the Aussies to a low total if not for the missed stumping and had a chance of 5-0 win.

1. CLT20 match vs Mumbai Indians in 2011, Chennai

Chennai Super Kings hosted the Mumbai Indians at Chepauk during the Super-10s round game of the 2011 CLT20. CSK came into the tournament as the champions of the 2011 IPL while MI qualified by finishing at No.3 position. However, Mumbai franchise was quite weak as their star batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma picked up injuries during India’s tour of England alongside Munaf Patel. But MI did get an opportunity to play with 5 overseas players in this critical situation.

On a typical slow pitch in Chennai, the home team finished with 158/4 as Mike Hussey smashed 81 from 57 balls with 8 fours and three sixes. MI began their chase on a good note reaching the 50-run mark in 6.1 overs losing only one wicket. However, a middle-order collapse left MI reeling at 106/7 in 15.2 overs. Lasith Malinga joined the MI captain Harbhajan Singh when they needed 53 runs from 28 balls. Malinga struck a four on the 2nd ball he faced and followed with successive sixes off Shadab Jakati in the 17th over.

Malinga was making the match interesting at MI needed 31 from 19 balls. The speedster tried for his 3rd six off the over by charging down the ground to Jakati but failed to get anywhere near to a delivery pitch close to the wide line. MS Dhoni failed to collect the ball letting Malinga have a chance at becoming a hero with the bat. Interestingly, Dhoni had already affected four dismissals including two stumpings earlier in the innings. Malinga struck a six in the penultimate over where MI got 14 runs and a boundary off Bollinger in the final over.

Mumbai reached the target with a ball to spare thanks to an unbeaten 53-run stand between Lasith Malinga (37* off 18) and Harbhajan Singh (19* off 20) which came in only 4.3 overs. The 3-wicket defeat in this game also put an end to their 8-match winning streak at the Chepauk. CSK managed to win only one of their next three matches in the tournament and finished bottom in the Group A. Mumbai Indians made it through to the knockouts and won the title for the first time.