Punjab Kings pacer Harshal Patel silenced the screaming fans in Dharamsala on Sunday as he dismissed MS Dhoni for a golden duck in the ongoing Match 53 of IPL 2024 against Chennai Super Kings.
Patel grabbed a couple of wickets off successive deliveries in the 19th over of CSK's innings to reduce the opposition to 150 for 8 after Sam Curran won the toss and elected to bowl first on their home ground at the HPCA stadium.
Patel first castled Tushar Deshpande with a slower delivery which led a huge roar in the stadium as the fans knew who was walking in next at No.9 for first time in T20 his career.
Cheers followed by heartbreak
Dhoni, as is the case these days in every Indian stadium, received a thunderous response from the crowd.
But their excitement was short-lived as Patel bowled another slower ball which completely deceived the 42-year-old. He missed and the ball hit the off-stump which was uprooted from the ground.
The massive roar was followed by pin-drop silence as Patel raised both his arms in delight but didn't celebrate the wicket much as he knew the most fans in the stadium wanted to see Dhoni bat for the final time at this scenic venue.
"(On the lack of celebration after getting Dhoni out) I have too much respect for him to celebrate when I get him out," Patel said at the mid-innings break.
This is only the second time Dhoni has been dismissed in IPL 2024. He was run out for 14 in their previous game against Punjab in Chennai which they lost and got out first ball against the same opposition.
Dhoni has scored 110 runs so far from just 48 balls he's faced this season. The hard-hitting right-hander is batting at a staggering strike rate of nearly 230 in IPL 2024.
CSK post below-par score on a small ground
Punjab Kings managed to restrict defending champions Chennai Super Kings to 167 for 9 in 20 overs after winning the toss and electing to bowl first in Dharamsala.
Rahul Chahar and Harshal Patel were the pick of the Punjab bowlers with 3 wickets each while Arshdeep Singh grabbed a couple of scalps.
There weren't many positives for CSK with the bat barring the contributions made by Ravindra Jadeja (43), Ruturaj Gaikwad (32) and Daryll Mitchell (30)
