Talking Points: Dhoni's cardiac Kings do it again

Each of Chennai Super Kings' four chases have gone into the 20th over, and down to the last three balls. Three of these four times, they have come out on top, and on the other occasion, they were one hit away from victory.

Once might be a lucky escape. Twice, a coincidence. But now, Super Kings seem to have turned this into an art form, if tightrope walks atop skyscrapers can be called that. Right now, they are double-daring opponents to hold their nerve when up against intense pressure. They are backing themselves to chase down ridiculous equations like 80 runs from 36 balls.

Almost every member of their power-packed batting order has had his day out, and even equations of 14-15 runs an over, daunting asks that have forced other teams to give up, are being hunted down. Today, they needed 132 off 11 overs when Dhoni walked in, and ended up smashing 72 of those runs in sixes. That's slightly better than one six every over, a incredible rate to maintain over the best part of a T20 innings.

Dhoni the limited-overs cricketer has made an entire career out of putting opponents under pressure and coming out on top from such situations, as was evident in the 19th over when young Mohammad Siraj bowled a ten-ball over that went for 14 runs, with his side still marginally holding the upper hand. Siraj had gone for 19 off his previous two overs, and with 30 needed from 12, another such over would have made things difficult for Super Kings. As it turned out, Dhoni's sliced six over point amped up the pressure, forcing Siraj to miss his wide yorkers and slow bouncers.

Just when we all thought the era of take-it-to-the-last-over Dhoniball was over, he and his crew seem to be reviving it.

By the time Dwayne Bravo came back for his second over, Quinton de Kock and AB de Villiers had plundered 103 runs off just 52 balls. Bravo was one of the few options Dhoni had in hand, with most of his bowlers being taken for runs. As it turned out, he prised out de Kock with a typically deceptive slower one off his first ball, and bowled the innings' second wicket-maiden.

According to ESPNcricinfo's Smart Stats - our new metrics for T20 cricket, which take into account match context and scoring rates at the other end - Bravo's spell saved his side as many as 10.3 runs, quite likely the difference between victory and defeat. His wicket-maiden kickstarted a five-over phase where Royal Challengers lost three wickets for 35 runs, an uncharacteristic lull between periods of sustained six-hitting.

It is the second time his bowling in the later stages of the innings has made the match-turning difference, after his all-round exploits against Mumbai Indians in the tournament opener.

That RCB's bowling attack has been their weaker suit has been a fact that has stood the test of time since this tournament's inception, and over the years, they have become the perfect case study to prove Azhar Mahmood's "batsmen win you games, bowlers win your tournaments" aphorism right.

At this year's auction, they snapped up the entire Kolkata Knight Riders 2017 attack - Umesh Yadav, Chris Woakes, Colin de Grandhomme and Nathan Coulter-Nile - that bowled them out for 49. With Coulter-Nile, the most successful among that lot, injured for the season, they opted for an oddball replacement in Corey Anderson, a man who has hardly bowled at the top level over the past 12 months.

A couple of shoddy death-overs performances early in the tournament have forced Virat Kohli to bowl out his two best bowlers, Umesh and Yuzvendra Chahal, before the final five, and that happened once again in a game they had no right to lose. All this left Kohli to choose between Washington Sundar, Pawan Negi and Anderson to defend 16 off the last over. Irrespective of what happened next, no IPL side should have found itself in a position to entrust Anderson with that kind of final-over pressure.

Six years ago, RCB's now coach Daniel Vettori brought Kohli on to bowl the 19th over, with CSK needing an even harder 43 off 12, chasing the same 205. Albie Morkel razed Kohli for 28 off that over, and from a similar situation, they sank Royal Challengers with a last-ball boundary.

Vettori now has a backroom full of specialist coaching staff and analytics whizzes to help him and his captain take more informed decisions, and, somehow, they couldn't do better than bowling a young Indian seamer and Anderson on the trot for six overs at the back end of this chase.

It's bewildering how it has come to this after ten seasons of seeing the same story play out time and time again, and it is only fitting that Royal Challengers are now the side with the worst-ever economy rate at the death in any IPL season.