The last game for Dhoni? RCB end Super Kings’ IPL title reign

MS Dhoni may have made his last Indian Premier League appearance after Royal Challengers Bengaluru knocked out defending champions Chennai Super Kings on Saturday.

Chennai needed 219 runs for victory but 201 would have been enough for them to reach the playoffs. However, they were 10 runs short as left-arm pacer Yash Dayal held his nerve while bowling the last over.

As a result, Bengaluru sneaked through on net run-rate ahead of three other teams with the same 7-7 win-loss records, completing a remarkable comeback to rising off the bottom of the table and winning six straight games to qualify for the playoffs by taking the fourth and last spot.

Bengaluru posted an imposing 218-5 thanks to captain Faf du Plessis’ 54 off 39 balls and Cameron Green’s unbeaten 38 off 17.

Chennai’s chase ended at 191-7 with team standard-bearer Dhoni out in the last over for 25 off 13 balls. The former India captain has yet to confirm whether he will play on after this year’s IPL concludes and will not get a fairytale ending if this does prove to be his last match.

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Du Plessis and Virat Kohli put on a quickfire opening stand 78 for the Royal Challengers, with Kohli scoring 47 off 29, including four sixes, and Du Plessis clubbing three fours and three sixes.

However, Mitchell Santner had Kohli caught and then ran out Du Plessis to leave Bengaluru 113-2 after 13 overs. Rajat Patidar smacked 41 off 23 with four sixes to lead a revival though and, together with Green, smashed 71 off only 28 balls for the third wicket – hitting five fours and seven sixes between them.

Cameos from Dinesh Karthik (14) and Glenn Maxwell (16) saw the Super Kings set 219 for victory, but the defending champions made a poor start to the chase as skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad was caught off Maxwell for a golden duck.

Dayal caught the in-form Gaikwad and dismissed Daryl Mitchell for 4, but the fightback was started by Rachin Ravindra (61 off 37) and Ajinkya Rahane (33 off 22) before Lockie Ferguson broke their 66-run partnership after a strategic timeout.

Ravindra hit five fours and three sixes in his maiden IPL half-century, only to be run out when stranded after a mix-up with Shivam Dube. The hard-hitting Dube could not compensate and was caught on seven.

Chennai’s playoffs chances looked bleak until Ravindra Jadeja hit an unbeaten 42 off 22 and 61 off 27 with Dhoni, who smashed six off Dayal’s first ball in the final over to ramp up the drama.

However, he was out caught the very next ball and Chennai crashed out of playoff contention moments later.

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