Fans at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, witnessed a rarest of incident when their captain cool, MS Dhoni was seen schooling a certain Deepak Chahar after the bowler had given his opponent, Punjab, a glare of hope as they chased their target of 161 runs.
With two overs remaining and Punjab needing 39, Dhoni decided to go with Chahar. The beginning of the penultimate over wasn’t how the captain had expected, as Chahar ended up bowling an above-the-waist delivery and was duly punished for that. Sarfaraz Khan hit him for a boundary.
A free hit was awarded and Chahar, on his part, bowled exact delivery – a high length full toss. This time around, Sarfaraz gathered two runs.
"I tried to bowl a slower one but the ball slipped out of my hand. I was hit for a boundary. I tried it again, but the same thing happened," Chahar told Times of India.
As Chahar lost his concentration, the animated Dhoni was left livid. He rushed towards the bowler and transferred some grimy words.
"Dhoni bhai was very angry with me. It was a big mistake that I made. He said a lot of things. Honestly, at the back of my mind, I was thinking 'what to bowl next?'," Chahar added.
Images source: Twitter
The words of advice worked wonders as Chahar ended his over by dismissing David Miller. Speaking what happened after the game, Chahar explained,
"After the match every player of my team came and congratulated me. They said I bowled brilliantly at the death'," Chahar added.
"Dhoni bhai also came up to me. He smiled and hugged me. He smiled and hugged me. He said, 'well done'. I know I bowled two bad deliveries, but I made an immediate comeback. He (Dhoni) also encouraged me and asked me to do well in the tournament. I was extremely happy that I contributed in my team’s victory.”
Chahar conceded 13 runs from his final over. With 26 runs still to win, Scott Kuggeleijn was thrown into action, and the 27-year-old made sure Chennai register their fourth victory of the season.
