Dhoni Effect: Ball hits stumps, but bails refuse to fall

Thanks to Dhoni’s pure luck, he survived a near chop on. In the 4th ball of the sixth over, Dhoni tried to defend a short delivery from Archer by playing it off the back foot, but in the process the ball rolled on back to hit the stumps.

Rajasthan Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and elected to bowl against Chennai Super Kings at Chepauk, on Sunday. Chennai left out off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and replaced him with Mitchell Santner while the Royals were unchanged. RR bowlers Dawal Kulkarni and Jofra Archer were quite in command with the new ball as they bolwed dream spell to start the proceeding for Rajasthan. At the end of third over, Shane Watson reviewed a poor call and survived but Stokes took out the Aussie all-rounder after he edged the ball to Jofra Archer at short third man. Earlier, Archer had delivered a wicket maiden after Rayudu edged a slower bouncer to Buttler in the second over. It was after Kedar Jadhav’s dismissal, Chennai got in big trouble as they were 27 for 3 at the end of five overs. The crowd at Chepauk was on their feet to welcome skipper MS Dhoni to the crease. However, thanks to Dhoni’s pure luck, he survived a near chop on. In the 4^th ball of the sixth over, Dhoni tried to defend a short delivery from Archer by playing it off the back foot, but in the process the ball rolled on back to hit the stumps. Luckily, the bails didn’t come off and Dhoni lived.

Thala Dhoni effect? When even bails refused to fall https://t.co/2Rk2WQOrJ1 via @ipl

— Shivam Sharma (@Shivam_Sharma33) March 31, 2019

Meanwhile, CSK has started the season with two straight wins and will look to keep the momentum going. After beating Bangalore, they rode on a team effort to prevail over Delhi Capitals in their second outing. In contrast, the Rajasthan have lost both their matches so far and would need to step up if they aim to breach the reigning champions' fortress. Teams: Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Ajinkya Rahane(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sanju Samson, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Rahul Tripathi, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Shane Watson, Ambati Rayudu, Suresh Raina, Kedar Jadhav, MS Dhoni(w/c), Dwayne Bravo, Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner, Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur, Imran Tahir