IPL 2021: MS Dhoni alerts Ruturaj Gaikwad just before Rohit Sharma's dismissal
It was a superb masterplan from Dhoni.
MS Dhoni is a mastermind in setting up batsmen with his fields. He has done it with so many times in his career while playing for India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK). Once again, during the match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and CSK, he did the same cleverly maneuvering the field only by inches to set up Rohit Sharma’s dismissal.
It was a good start for MI in a mammoth chase of 219 runs thanks to Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock. However, in the 8th over of the innings, the third ball saw Ruturaj Gaikwad sprinting in the outfield and restricting De Kock for just a single run after playing a very good shot.
This brought Rohit on strike who was hitting the ball well on the day. However, MS Dhoni had a plan set for his former teammate. As soon as the MI skipper came on strike, Dhoni indicated Gaikwad to move a bit to a sweeper cover position and just smiled looking at the fielder.
Rohit falls into the trap
Off the very next ball, Shardul Thakur delivered a fuller length delivery which Rohit Sharma looked to hit over the -off-side and opened the bat-face accordingly. However, he didn’t time it well and what followed was exactly according to MS Dhoni’s plan. The ball went in the air only for Ruturaj Gaikwad to catch it easily. Rohit Sharma was looking good on the day but had to go back to the pavilion after falling into the trap.
He scored 35 runs off just 25 deliveries with four fours and a six and more importantly got MI off to a very good start. It was very important for the five-time champions as they were chasing a mammoth total of 220 runs. Ambati Rayudu, Faf du Plessis and Moeen Ali slammed half-centuries earlier after CSK had to bat first and helped the Men in Yellow post a very good total on the board.
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