THAT LAST OVER FINISH BY ONE OF THE BEST IN THE BUSINESS

Dhoni has finished a number of matches throughout his stellar career but one of my favorite ones is his ***Celkon Cup Final finish in 2013***. Before we deep dive into the final over in isolation, let us get some context… Chasing 202, India, after being placed at a relatively comfortable ***139–3***, lost quick wickets with Herath wrecking havoc on what was a tricky pitch to bat on. India were soon reduced to ***182–9*** with just Ishant Sharma accompanying Dhoni. Even though Malinga had an average day with the ball, he had started to bowl really well to the tail-enders with his deadly yorkers. It was proving to be incredibly difficult for the likes of Vinay Kumar and Ishant to handle him. Sensing this opportunity, Angelo Matthews went for the kill by giving the 48th over to Malinga. However, knowing that the last over was to be bowled by the inexperienced Eranga, Dhoni calmly played out a ***maiden over*** from Malinga. Ishant had to face the next over and he managed to negotiate a much lesser-threatening over from Angelo Matthews. Now, the final over. This was Dhoni’s territory. Even though India were 9 wickets down, Sri Lanka had to contend with Dhoni in the last over which is not easy at all. Remember, Dhoni was batting at his peak in 2013. You could also see just a little bit of nervousness from Eranga as well because he was still new to international cricket, it was a tri-nation final and he had to stop Dhoni. You could also see Dhoni waiting for this opportunity which was the reason why he played out Malinga. He had given himself a decent chance but make no mistake - Scoring 15 runs on **THAT** pitch was not easy. Now, onto the last over… **Ball 1:** Eranga bowls the ball wide but just inside the tramline. Dhoni was perhaps too eager to play the big shot and hence lost his shape while playing the shot and completely missed the ball. A precious dot. Pressure right back on Dhoni!! https://preview.redd.it/clm9hkbw3tje1.png?width=497&format=png&auto=webp&s=51f0031ac3dec7653363c4c72b0ac26348c3ce9c **Ball 2:** Eranga does the cardinal sin of bowling the length ball and to compound his woes, it was much closer to Dhoni and all he did was just swing that heavy club of his to send the ball out of the stadium straight down the ground. Wooh!!! That was an incredible strike under pressure. Now, Eranga was feeling the heat. https://preview.redd.it/aa7eiazx3tje1.png?width=362&format=png&auto=webp&s=f2c65fe541d2c48b98e39c56d151b7d0b9dc33ab **Ball 3:** It was another length ball which Dhoni swung and opened the face of the bat to send the ball towards deep point for another boundary. Well well well…. The complexion of the match changed in 2 balls. **Ball 4:** Poor Eranga got nervous and his mind got all messed up which resulted him bowling another slot ball that Dhoni duly dispatched it over long off for a flat six and thereby sealing a famous win for India. https://preview.redd.it/a83m5u3z3tje1.png?width=546&format=png&auto=webp&s=335e56f688f3f5a6cf530d5f172ff2544e4de61d https://preview.redd.it/d5tvif704tje1.png?width=343&format=png&auto=webp&s=6f1b733e084be6b0c57e9720d0bbe84210a5c34d This was one of the closer finishes for Dhoni with the bat and probably the toughest one considering the match situation and the two-paced nature of the pitch. He displayed great match awareness and street-smartness by playing out Malinga in that 48th over when most of the batters would’ve tried to do something else, thereby risking a wicket. To sum it up, like Ian Bishop said in the commentary - **Magnificent, magnificent Mahendra!!**