New Delhi [India], March 28 : Former Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni hailed Ravindra Jadeja for his batting heroics in the final against the Gujarat Titans in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 final.
The first day of the final was washed off due to rains, the second day too was impacted and CSK chased a revised target in a largely post-midnight innings. CSK were given a revised target of 171 runs in 15 overs.
Dhoni walked in when CSK needed 22 runs in 15 balls. Mohit Sharma nicked his wicket, forcing the veteran skipper to go back for a golden duck. Jadeja walked in and kept the scoreboard ticking. With 10 runs needed on the final two balls, he struck a four and a six to seal the game for CSK and their fifth IPL title.
"And this situation also, you know I was quite confident about you know Jaddu has the talent and mindset to achieve the target. But again, it's not definitely that this is what will happen. It was a very memorable innings. You know the few sixes that he hit before the last ball. I think those were very difficult," Dhoni said in a video posted by CSK on X.
https://x.com/ChennaiIPL/status/1773343386457542945?s=20
"Looking at the TV, it looks easy but now that I bat down the order, I know how difficult it is to get that kind of elevation and win it for six. And at the same time, everybody is under pressure. The opposition wants to win, we want to win. It's hard work for everyone. So glad we were on the winning side. And the emotions were very high. So a big round of applause for Jaddu for the way he batted," he added.
Ahead of the new season, Dhoni stepped down from the captaincy role and Ruturaj Gaikwad took over the CSK captaincy reign.
The five-time champions have begun their title defence in style with two consecutive wins. CSK defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the season opener by 6 wickets and then overwhelmed Gujarat Titans with a 63-run win.