“To Mahi Bhai, I Wanted To…”: This is Why Sandeep Sharma Bowled Round the Wicket to MS Dhoni in Last Over at Chepauk

There is no going into a safe house around the fact that bowling a last over to Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni (32*) is a difficult task. The same level of difficulty goes through the roof when it comes to bowling a last over to Dhoni whilst defending a run-chase.

In spite of the fact that Rajasthan Royals pacer Sandeep Sharma (1/30) had 21 runs to defend in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2023 Match 17 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, him starting with a couple of wide balls disclosed the amount of pressure he was in even against a Dhoni who doesn’t play representative cricket other than the IPL nowadays.

While Sharma managed to execute a yorker perfectly on the first legal delivery of the last over, he erred twice on the following balls only for Dhoni to hit back-to-back sixes to bring down the equation to seven runs off three balls.

“I was bowling good yorkers in the nets. The leg-side was big but I missed my mark and bowled a couple of low full-tosses and both went for sixes,” Sharma told host broadcaster Star Sports Network during a post-match chat.

This is Why Sandeep Sharma Bowled Round the Wicket to MS Dhoni in Last Over

It was after conceding two sixes that Sharma opted to bowl round the wicket to the right-handed batter. Dhoni, who dragged a full ball from outside the off-stump towards deep mid-wicket for a single, needed to score five runs off the last ball for a win after all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja (25*) could also just run a single off the penultimate ball.

Having said that, Sharma’s third pinpoint yorker of the over denied Dhoni a boundary as another single resulted in a 3-run loss for the Super Kings.

“I wanted to take the ball out of his [Ravindra Jadeja] reach. To Mahi [MS Dhoni] bhai, I wanted to change the angle and bowl outside off,” Sharma revealed his tactics which allowed him to register a memorable win for Royals. Readers must note that the visitors have pulled off a victory at the Chepauk for the first time since 2008.

Sandeep Sharma was Unsold in IPL 2023 Auction

14th highest wicket-taker (sixth-highest among pacers and 10th highest among Indians) in the IPL, it was astonishing to see Sharma remaining unsold during IPL 2023 auction last year. Sharma was a late addition to RR’s squad after fast bowler Prasidh Krishna was ruled out of the season due to a lumbar stress fracture.

Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson‘s trust on Sharma’s skills can be observed from the fact that he was picked to bowl the final over of the match ahead of Kuldeep Sen (0/8) and Jason Holder (0/37) – both of whom were part of their original squad for the season.