Twitter Reactions Indian Premier League 2024

'Chalaak bro chalaak, you're very chalaak' - Fans react as MS Dhoni's smart move allowed Matheesha Pathirana to bowl against GT

Here's how fans reacted after MS Dhoni strategical move against Gujarat Titans in the first qualifier of IPL 2023.

author-image
Rohit Kumar
New Update
MS Dhoni and Matheesha Pathirana (Source - Twitter)

MS Dhoni and Matheesha Pathirana (Source - Twitter)

The four-time champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are just 1 step far to get their hands on the title for the 5th time as they have successfully qualified for the Indian Premier League 2023 playoffs after beating the defending champions Gujarat Titans (GT) in the first qualifier by 15 runs at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday, May 23.

Meanwhile, a controversial incident took place during the match in which the former legendary Indian cricketer and CSK skipper MS Dhoni was involved. The incident took place during the 15th over of the 2nd innings where Dhoni was engaged in a discussion with the on-field umpires. CSK star speedster Matheesha Pathirana was getting ready to bowl the over but was stopped by the umpires.

The reason behind this was that he hadn't been on the field for the same amount of time. Then the umpires and Dhoni chatted till the time elapsed and Pathirana was good to bowl. Many fans and experts think that it was a deliberate time-wasting strategy by the CSK captain to make full use of Pathirana as he bowled only 1 over before that.

However, former legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, who was doing commentary at that time, didn’t like this move from Dhoni and said, “You accept the umpire’s decision. Even if the umpire gets it wrong sometimes in high-pressure situations.”

A brilliant all-round performance by CSK

Talking about the match, Gt skipper Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to bowl first. The opening duo of CSK Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway helped the team to achieve a fighting total of 172 runs as both stitched a 87-run stand for the first wicket. Gaikwad was the highest run-scorer for CSK as he scored 60 runs off just 44 balls.

After asking GT to chase down 173 on a tricky surface to bat on, the four-time champions restricted GT to 157 in 20 overs. GT’s star allrounder Rashid Khan played a cameo to keep them alive, but once he got out, CSK sealed the fate of the match without breaking a sweat by 15 runs and advanced to the IPL finals for the 10th time.

Here’s how fans reacted:

Indian Premier League MS Dhoni CSK IPL 2023 Gujarat Titans