Rajasthan Royals (RR) cruised to a 16-run win over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in their first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Tuesday (Septemeber 22). However, CSK skipper MS Dhoni showcased his finisher skills during the match as he smashed three back-to-back sixes in the dying embers of the match.
However, Mahi held himself back and came out to bat at no.7 which raised a lot of eyebrows to what was the reason behind it.
Going into the final over of the match, Chennai needed 38 to win the match off 6 deliveries.
With just four wickets in hand, the 39-year-old started to rain hell on the RR pacer Tom Curran - who ended up giving away 21 runs in the end.
After two singles off the first two balls of the final over, Dhoni shamed Curran to three humongous sixes. However, Mahi's efforts went in vain as CSK finished on 200/6.
During the post-match interview, MSD finally revealed why he demoted himself down the batting order.
"We wanted to try Sam, Jadeja up. Towards the end, you will see senior guys stepping up but at the start of the tournament we want to try things, if not, we know who can do it later."
"I haven't batted for a long time, and the 14-day quarantine hasn't really helped," Dhoni said during the post-match interview.
CSK's next match is against Delhi Capitals (DC) on September 25 in the Indian Premier League.
