Dhoni continues to go bang bang in IPL

MS Dhoni hitting a six with Ravi Shastri in the commentary box - no better combination can give ardent Indian cricket fans more chills. It happened a few nights back, when Dhoni clobbered Mumbai Indians captain Hardik Pandya for three sixes in the final over of the innings at the Wankhede Stadium. 

And then again on Friday, when the former Chennai Super Kings captain carved out a never-seen-before reverse six and a 101-metre monstrous hit against Lucknow Super Giants leaving Shastri going bonkers on air.

With Chennai seemingly struggling against the LSG attack at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, Dhoni stepped out to bat as CSK' last hope to post a challenging total at the venue. 

In the second he faced in the match, he lofted the outside-off delivery from Mohsin Khan for a boundary through deep extra cover before pulling off the most un-Dhoni-like six on the very next ball. With the fast bowler angling a slower one across to the off side, Dhoni shuffled across the stumps and scooped it effortlessly over the wicketkeeper's head for a maximum, leaving Shastri dumbfounded on air.

In the next over, against a yorker from Yash Thakur, which was right in the slot for Dhoni, the veteran batter milked it properly as he smashed a 101-metre six over the cow corner. It was his 65th six in the 20th over in his IPL career.

Watching that monstrous hot vanish into the crowd, Shastri said: "He has smashed that. It's a massive six. Wow! That was big!"

Dhoni eventually smashed two boundaries in the remaining three deliveries - one muscled through the off side and other squeezed past backward point as Chennai finished with 176 for six.

With the unbeaten 9-ball 28, off which 16 runs were scored in the final over, Dhoni took his 20th-over tally to 772 runs at a strike rate of 246.64 in his illustrious IPL career. 57 off those runs came in IPL 2024, in just 16 balls, laced with six maximums and four boundaries.