Sandeep Sharma celebrates after restricting MS Dhoni-led CSK as Rajasthan Royals won by 3 runs (Sportzpics)
MS Dhoni smashed 2 sixes in the last over against Rajasthan Royals but Ravichandran Ashwin’s ‘risky’ advice to Sandeep Sharma helped RR win the match by 3 runs
MS Dhoni remains one of the best finishers in the modern game and during the IPL 2023 clash against Rajasthan Royals earlier this season, the Chennai Super Kings skipper turned back the clock as he smashed 32 runs in just 17 balls but couldn’t help CSK win the match as Sandeep Sharma kept his nerve in the last over against Dhoni and helped the Royals win the match by 3 runs.
RR skipper Sanju Samson turned to the experienced Sandeep with CSK needing 20 runs to win the match, against a set MS Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja duo in the middle.
Dhoni smashed two sixes against Sandeep, first over the deep fine leg and the other towards the deep midwicket.
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That’s when Ravichandran Ashwin intervened and helped his compatriot, the spin wizard speaking in an interview revealed that he advised Sandeep to bowl the ‘riskiest’ ball which Dhoni might not have expected.
In a video that’s going viral on social media, Ashwin can be seen shedding light on how he used probability to trick Dhoni and Jadeja and helped eke out a narrow win for Rajasthan Royals.
Watch:
“Let me give you an example. Sandeep Sharma bowled that last over to Dhoni and he smashed him for two sixes, when you are defending 20 runs and when a guy like Dhoni has smashed you for 2 sixes, the odds of you coming out on top of that battle from there are literally none,” Ashwin can be heard saying in the video.
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“‘What’s the highest risk ball at this point’, I asked.” Sandeep replied, “Slower length ball.”
“I said, ‘You try bowling that to him now’.”
“At the end of the day, at that point in time, whatever is the most riskiest ball the batsman won’t be expecting that. Because the batsman knows that the bowler is under immense pressure. So the batter won’t expect that ball from the bowler,” Ashwin added.
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The legendary spinner further stated, “Playing with the probability and numbers, I feel knowing them is good. But you don’t have to adhere to that always.”
Rajasthan Royals ended up doing the double over Chennai Super Kings as they defeated CSK by 32 runs in the return fixture at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
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