MS Dhoni’s 48-ball 84 against RCB my most favourite IPL 2019 memory: Faf du Plessis

Faf du Plessis, the veteran South African cricketer, said that MS Dhoni’s knock of 84 off 48 balls against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) is his favourite memory in the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL). Representing the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), Dhoni played the blinder at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, but RCB won by a solitary run.

His knock was laced with five fours and as many as seven sixes. Du Plessis was a part of that game and could manage only five runs before falling prey to Umesh Yadav. Dale Steyn’s double strike to dismiss Shane Watson and Suresh Raina also put pressure on the Yellow Army. However, Dhoni kept his cool and turned over the strike regularly with the odd boundary here and there.

Then he started hitting more and more sixes: Faf du Plessis  

In the last over, CSK needed a mammoth 26 runs with Umesh into the attack. But Dhoni hit three sixes and a four to bring the target down to a couple off the last ball. To his dismay, Shardul Thakur was run-out at the striker’s end. Nevertheless, Du Plessis is still in awe of how Dhoni played.

“There have been a lot of them but I will mention that is fresh in my memory. Last year against RCB. I think we were 60-6 or 7 and basically we should be bowled out for 90. He was in at the moment and absorbed pressure very well. Then he started hitting more and more sixes,” Du Plessis said in a video on CSK’s Twitter handle.

“The sixes he was hitting was out of the stadium. He ended up getting 87 off 40-odd-balls (sic). I think it was 26 required off the last over and after the game, we were like what just happened,” the former Proteas skipper added.

Du Plessis has been a part of the CSK team for quite a few years now. Apart from the IPL, the veteran has also played in the scrapped Champions League T20.

“I have been very fortunate to be part of the team for almost 10 years now. I have some incredible memories of us winning two IPLs, two or three Champions League and some incredible games. I’m trying to remember some brilliant individual innings and my memory is not great so it might be a little bit off here and there but bear with me,” he added.