IPL 2023 Final: Gone in 0.12 Seconds! MS Dhoni Stops the Unstoppable Shubman Gill

Shubman Gill chipped one uppishly of a veering fullish leg-side delivery from Tushar Deshpande in the 2nd over and Deepak Chahar grassed a sitter at backward square leg.

‘Has Deepak Chahar dropped the Cup’ – came a tweet as swiftly as it could.

And for the remainder of the time that Gill was in the middle, Chahar’s face flashed on the big screen each time the GT opener helped himself to a boundary in the  IPL 2023 final against Chennai super Kings in Ahmedabad.

**

In Qualifier 2, Mumbai Indians’ Tim David has grassed a tough chance of Gill at mid-on. Gill would go on to demolish MI en route to this third century in four innings.

Gill single-handedly had knocked MI out of the equation.

**

Chahar was under pressure, and immediately after that drop, he had the ball in his hands running into bowl his second over of the match. Wriddhiman Saha knew this was the chance – hit the iron when it is hot – as he danced down the track first ball whipping Chahar disdainfully over midwicket. CSK captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni came up to the stumps after that shot but Saha knew this was his window and added two more fours in the over – a hard swipe towards midwicket and an inside-out uppish drive to extra-cover.

To make matters worse for Chahar, Gill clobbered three consecutive boundaries off Tushar Deshpande in the next over – each more sublime than the previous. Gill was up and running, so was Saha and GT had reached 62/0 in 6 with Gill adding another hattrick of fours off Maheesh Theekshana.

Will Chahar’s miss eventually prove to be the most pivotal moment in the final – that had gone into reserve day?

**

But this is CSK, not MI. Dhoni is a master tactician. And he brought out his ace.

Ravindra Jadeja.

After a spell of below-par performances and the captaincy debacle – Jaddu too had been feeling the pressure. But this season has been different. Not being in the limelight helped as he put in crucial performances throughout the campaign.

He started off with a dart to Saha, then a fuller-length slider to Gill. The third ball was on the pads to Gill, again. Off the fourth, Jadeja varied his space, allowing Saha to step out, but Saha had mistimed it – dot. Another quick dart followed and a single to midwicket brought Gill on strike for the final delivery.

Gill would have anticipated another dart onto the pads, but Jadeja bowled this one flatter but at the middle and off length; Gill would have read it early and took a longish stride to meet the ball early. But, off the pitch, the ball deviated off its trajectory and took a fast turn evading Gill’s bat and onto Dhoni’s gloves; Gill meanwhile wobbled and lost his shape and tried to drag his back leg back.

Jadeja had deceived Gill big time and Dhoni in swift motion had the stumps whipped in a flash- more precisely in 0.12 seconds.

Gill looked back; went to Saha with a pensive look. The leg umpire signalled for TV replays. Meanwhile, Jadeja looked at Dhoni for confirmation and the skipper nodded ever so slightly that brought out a beaming smile on Jadeja’s face. Gill (39 off 20) was done for the day; falling 83 runs short of Virat Kohli’s 2016 record of most runs in an IPL season. TV replays only confirmed what Dhoni knew, the spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium knew.

The unstoppable Gill had been stopped the only way he could have been this season. By Dhoni’s magic and Jadeja’s guile and all of a sudden the Titans seemed at par with Super Kings.