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Almost every aging cricketer has suffered the wrath of fans and critics at some point in their career. Of late MS Dhoni has been under scrutiny for not clearing the rope as frequently as he used to do in his heydays. His strike rate has been the talking point for quite a long time now, as many think that he leaves it for too late. But unfazed by all the criticism, Captain Cool keeps fine-tuning his art of hitting the ball and finishing games.
And he is proving the age old saying, "form is temporary, class is permanent", true in the ongoing IPL season 11. After a slow start in the first two games, the beast in him woke up and he thrashed Punjab bowlers all over the park scoring a 44-ball 79* in a match that Chennai lost by just 4 runs.
He almost bailed out his side from a losing position. But a bruised tiger is more dangerous they say! In CSK’s fifth match this season, Dhoni came up with a quickfire cameo of 25* off 12 which included 3 fours and a six to emerge victorious over Hyderabad.
The next time Dhoni took centre-stage, his side was again in deep trouble, needing 134 off 66 balls against RCB. And the big man started from where he left... a 34-ball 70* to help CSK reach the target of 208 with 2 balls to spare! MSD opted to deal in just boundaries and hit 7 massive sixes.
Continuing his rich vein of form, Dhoni blasted Delhi with his 51* off 22 balls powering his side to a mammoth 211/4 in CSK's 13-run win in their 8th game of the season. The 5 sixes and 2 fours he scored are proof that he is in no mood to waste any time on the crease now and bowlers better have plans B and C against him.
In the next game, Chennai might’ve lost to KKR but MSD managed to pull off the game with his power-hitting at the death. If not for his 43* off 25, CSK wouldn’t have reached a competitive total of 177/5 in their quota of 20 overs. His innings at a strike rate of 172 saw him hit four massive sixes. Thanks to some sloppy fielding while bowling, Chennai were upstaged by Kolkata, but Captain Cool again stamped his authority with the bat.
In the 10th match of this season, Chennai were in a spot of bother but cometh the hour, cometh the man! This time also Dhoni didn’t wait to start launching the ball in the stands. 3 sixes and a four in an innings of 31* off 23 ensured that CSK chased down 128 in just 18 overs against RCB!
The most significant difference in the Dhoni of this season is that he isn’t taking too long to start going big. Different batsmen have different hitting styles, but the way he hits the ball, he dents the confidence of the bowler.
He has hit the maximum number of sixes this season, 27 to be precise. With 360 runs at an incredible average of 90, highest for any batsman in IPL 2018, MSD is at the seventh spot in the list for batsman with most runs. And his strike rate of 165.89 proves that this IPL, Dhoni has been in murderous mood.
In the 10 innings so far, he has remained unbeaten six times, most by any batsman this season. By far, he is having the best IPL of his life, and it's evident that his finishing touch is back and he is walking into bat in the top gear from ball one. Bowlers better be careful now because 'Mahi maar raha hai' (MS Dhoni is on a rampage).
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