IPL 2020: MS Dhoni gifts Hardik and Krunal Pandya his CSK jersey

MS Dhoni, the Chennai Super Kings’ (CSK) skipper, hasn’t had the best of times in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). His team are on the cusp of elimination, winning only three games thus far in the T20 extravaganza. On Friday, October 23, the Yellow Army tasted their heaviest defeat in the history of the tournament, losing to Mumbai Indians (MI) by as many as 10 wickets.

To start with CSK lost the toss and were sent in to bat first. In the first six overs, they imploded and were reduced to 24 for the loss of five wickets. Trent Boult and Jasprit Bumrah didn’t allow the Yellow Army’s batters to pounce on them. From there on, Sam Curran notched 52 runs off 47 balls, but his efforts could only take the yellow brigade to a mere 114 for the loss of nine wickets.

In the run-chase, Ishan Kishan’s 68* and Quinton de Kock’s 46* handed CSK the hefty defeat. MI chased the target down with 46 balls to spare. With the defeat, the Super Kings stayed at the bottom of the points table.

In the meantime, the two brothers Hardik and Krunal Pandya had a memorable day. From their cricketing point of view, they didn’t have much to do. But after the game at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, they got prized memorabilia in the form of Dhoni’s CSK jersey.

Previously, Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Jos Buttler was also over the moon after getting Dhoni’s jersey. It wasn’t a surprise that Krunal and Hardik were on cloud 9 as well.

Here’s the picture:

Hardik and Krunal didn’t have much to do in the game. Krunal bowled three overs during the middle of CSK’s innings. Though he couldn’t get a wicket, he was able to put a lid on the run-scoring, giving away only 16 runs at an excellent economy rate of 5.33. Hardik neither got a chance to bat nor he was handed the ball.

Mumbai are next set to lock horns with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday, October 25 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. The team, captained by Rohit Sharma, are sitting pretty on top of the points table with seven victories from their first 10 matches thus far in the T20 league.