Dhoni's rewind mode

Lendl Simmons and Parthiv Patel were shackled by some disciplined bowling from R Ashwin and Ashish Nehra. Simmons, wanting to assert himself, charged Nehra in the fourth over. The bowler spotted it early and sent down a quick, steepling bouncer. Having come down nearly half way, Simmons had to get his head out of the way in a jerky motion.

Nehra continued on his follow-through, and, fiddling with his nose, stared long and hard at Simmons. Three balls later, Simmons sprang out of his crease again, and edged a high-full toss. MS Dhoni, putting in a rare dive, couldn't hold on to the catch. It was anyway called a no-ball for height.

Everyone loves a good Nehra blooper on the field, and there was duly one on the night. Allowing Dwayne Bravo's delivery to pass him, Simmons dabbed it to short third man where Nehra was stationed and set off for a single.

As Nehra neared the ball, it bounced a tad awkwardly and he tried to clutch it around his waist. The ball, though, popped out, and while he looked around to see where it had gone, he ended up booting it away inadvertently. The single was completed without much sweat and Nehra was seen animatedly explaining to his team-mates what had happened.

When both these teams met in the final five years ago, Kieron Pollard was threatening to take the game away from Chennai Super Kings with some late hitting. Dhoni, spotting his tendency to hit straight, posted an ultra-straight mid-off, where Pollard eventually hit a catch to. Pollard was blazing away again, and Dhoni pulled the 2010 field out of his memory file. Only that he assigned Michael Hussey to a straightish mid-on instead of mid-off. But Pollard didn't fall for the ploy this time.

Lasith Malinga got an lbw decision in his favour in the first over of Super Kings' innings when a swiftly descending full toss struck Dwayne Smith well outside leg stump. It was a real gift and Malinga probably was in no mood for guilty pleasures. Three overs later he found himself in prime position at third man for a regulation catch offered by Faf du Plessis. But the ball went through his hands and thudded on to this thigh. You win some, you lose some.

Jonty Rhodes, the Mumbai Indians fielding coach, said during a dug-out interview with Matthew Hayden that he had to keep a straight face while watching the game from the sidelines. Even before he could complete his statement, Vinay Kumar sprinted forward from long-on to snaffle du Plessis' catch. Rhodes couldn't stop hollering in excitement. "I am the fielding coach. Yeah, it's me," he screamed in delight. He jested for good measure: "If they drop them it's not my fault, if they take them, it's all me, all me."