From despair to ecstasy: Two contrasting emotions of MS Dhoni in full display in IPL final

Where Chennai Super King supporters had almost lost hope that their 'Thala' might not be able to lift the winning cup for the fifth time. MS Dhoni went on a rollercoaster of emotions from keeping his eyes closed in the dugout, not being able to watch the last 3 balls of the thrilling finale, to bursting into tears while lifting Ravindra Jadeja who scored the winning run. 

The 41-year-old skipper, wasn't able to produce any magic as he was dismissed for a golden duck in the final of the Indian Premier League 2023 on Monday, 29 May. The captain cool who is known to keep his emotions close to his sleeves, showed an uncharacteristically emotional side that stunned cricket enthusiasts. The plethora of emotions after a nail biting victory poured down in tears as he hugged 'Sir Jadeja.' Chasing 171 runs from 15 overs after a DLS revision, CSK got off to a brilliant start in the second innings. 

The finale's last two ball highlighted two ends of the stadium, one where 'Thala' was praying and the other where Jadeja was at the fore inching the team towards victory. Amid the speculations of a rift between Jadeja and Dhoni during this season, right from posting cryptic tweets to literally saying it out loud "fans want to me to get out so that Dhoni can come to bat." It was delightful to see Dhoni lifting Jadeja and shedding tears of joy.  

Key Highlights from CSK Vs GT

Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni becomes the first player in IPL history to make 250 appearances. Dhoni has featured in the league since its commencement and has represented the 'Yellow Army' every season barring 2016 and 2017 — during which he represented Rising Pune Supergiant.

Giving a lifeline to the GT's Shubham Gill in the match, Deepak Chahar dropped a catch while he was very strategically stationed at backward point with Tushar Deshpande, bowling the second over, angling a full delivery into the pads and enticing a flick, that GT's Shubman Gill took.

MS Dhoni's lightning-quick reflexes, where he stumped the dangerous Shubman Gill in a lighting fast speed of just 0.1 second. Chennai Super Kings got a breakthrough as Ravindra Jadeja strikes in his first over.

Ambati Rayudu who had announced retirement, was running on a dry spell for the whole tournament but ended up scoring 19 runs off 8 balls. 

Breaking the brilliant spell by GT's Mohit Sharma, the chief architect of CSK, Jadeja smashed a six and a four off the final two deliveries. Leading the team to the unconventional victory.

Dhoni signalling at his return to IPL said, "Circumstantially, if you see it's the best time to announce the retirement. The easy thing for me to say is thank you and retire. But the hard thing to do is to work hard for nine months and try to play one more IPL season. The body has to hold up. But the amount of love I have received from CSK fans, it would be a gift for them to play one more season. The way they've shown their love and emotion, it's something I need to do for them. It's the last part of my career."