Feature

Dhoni shows off his football skills again

Plays of the day from the IPL match between Rising Pune Supergiants and Royal Challengers Bangalore

Deivarayan Muthu
22-Apr-2016
MS Dhoni lifted his right leg and stopped Virat Kohli's dab  •  BCCI

MS Dhoni lifted his right leg and stopped Virat Kohli's dab  •  BCCI

Dhoni's football interception- II
Last weekend, MS Dhoni showed off his football skills when he stuck his right leg out and intercepted a late dab from Manan Vohra. Mohammad Kaif had tweeted: "Dhoni, the goalkeeper, uses his right foot to stop a late dab and save some runs. Superb reflex action. MS Dhoni you are amazing!"
Dhoni's snazzy football skills made a reappearance on Friday night. After Virat Kohli played a similar late dab off R Ashwin, Dhoni pulled off a similar save, lifting his right leg and stopping the ball with his pad. He then flashed a big smile at Kohli. Will this become a thing like Dhoni's between-the-legs stops?
AB de Villiers' class
Having taken rookie legspinner M Ashwin for two powerful sixes in the 11th over, AB de Villiers turned to finesse. When the bowler came back on in the 14th over, de Villiers shaped for the reverse sweep even before Ashwin bowled a full toss. De Villiers middled the shot and sent it to the left of point for four. Two balls later, de Villiers brought out the conventional sweep, rolling his wrists to send a full ball racing through backward square leg for four.
Rahul runs out of luck
KL Rahul could have been dismissed in the first over of the match had R Ashwin reacted sharply at wide slip. Rahul pushed away from the body against Ishant Sharma's full ball and sent a healthy nick low to the fielder's right. Ashwin went for the catch with both hands but the ball burst out. The opening batsman had another nervy moment, in Ishant's second over, when he shaped to pull and flapped a rushing short ball in the air. Luckily for Rahul, the ball landed in front of Kevin Pietersen at mid-on. His luck, however, ran out when he skied a catch to Ishant at third man off Thisara Perera in the fourth over.
Kohli's frustration
Virat Kohli set to work with a wristy pick-up shot for six and a pristine on-drive off Ishant in the third over. He went on to raise his fifth half-century in six matches but ran out of steam in the middle overs. After he mis-hit a pull off Rajat Bhatia to deep midwicket in the 17th over, Kohli whacked himself on the pads and grimaced. After he holed out for 80 off 63 in the final over of the innings, he jammed his bat on the helmet in frustration. At the innings break, Kohli said: "I was not happy with the way I batted today. I thought I could have used 10 balls lesser."
The bus-driver celebration
There was a buzz around South African chinaman bowler Tabraiz Shamsi when he was named as a replacement for the injured Samuel Badree on Thursday. Shamsi shackled Ajinkya Rahane and Dhoni with his googlies and sliders in the middle overs of the chase. He then reaped reward when he drew Rahane out of the crease and had him stumped. He celebrated the wicket by pretending to steer a bus. Wicketkeeper Rahul also joined the "bus-driver celebration".
Carlos Brathwaite, Shamsi's team-mate at the CPL, took to twitter and said: "#BusDriver hahahahahahaha @shamsi90"

Deivarayan Muthu is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo