MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are set to play against Hardik Padnya-led Gujarat Titans (GT) in final of Indian Premier League (IPL 2023) at Narendra Modi stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday (May 28). CSK defeated GT in Qualifier 1 to reach the final, while GT succeeded in beating Mumbai Indians (MI) in Qualifier 2 to reach the final.
In Qualifier 1 between CSK and GT, an incident had taken place which grabbed eyeballs and put CSK skipper Dhoni under the spotlight.
CSK was defending a stiff target against GT and during the course of the match Dhoni asked pace bowler Matheesha Pathirana to bowl the 16th over of the innings. There is no denying the fact that Pathirana is Dhoni’s go-to bowler in the death overs but umpires raised an issue over Dhoni’s decision to ask Pathirana to bowl. It so happened that Pathirana had gone off the field for over 8 minutes after the 12th over and was required to spend four more minutes on the field before he can be allowed to bowl. Dhoni started arguing with the umpires and was unwilling to ask any other bowler to deliver the 16th over. The argument between Dhoni and umpires went on for four minutes and Pathirana was eventually allowed by the umpires to bowl.
Dhoni's move to kill time by engaging umpires in an argument did not go down well with many fans and critics who said that the CSK skipper intentionally continued his argument to allow Pathirana to bowl the 16th over. Many demanded that Dhoni should be banned from IPL 2023 final for his act.
Will Dhoni be banned from IPL 2023 final?
No, Dhoni cannot be banned from playing in IPL 2023 final. A captain can get banned from paying a match only if he has repeated the slow-over rate offence thrice in the league. It is to be noted that Dhoni has been fined only once in IPL 2023 for slow over rate. Dhoni will surely lead CSK vs GT in the IPL 2023 final.
