MS Dhoni's Absence A Massive Boost To Any Opposition: Rohit Sharma

Over the years, the games between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings have produced some absolutely exhilarating contests. Unsurprisingly, expectations were high when Mumbai Indians visited Chennai Super Kings for a crunch clash on Friday. But even before the start of the game, the Super Kings suffered a big blow as their skipper MS Dhoni missed the clash with fever. Along with Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja also missed the big game.

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Dhoni’s absence made a big difference as Mumbai Indians thrashed the Super Kings by 46 runs to end their unbeaten run at home this season. Apart from the toss, not much went right for the Super Kings who are still at the top of the points table with 8 wins from 12 games.  Bowling first, the Super Kings conceded 155 for 4 in the 20 overs. Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma led from the front, scoring 67 to guide his team to a total which eventually turned out to be a winning one.

Chasing 156, the Super Kings, in the absence of MS Dhoni, were all out for just 109. Barring Murali Vijay, who scored 38, the other five batsmen of the top six failed to even cross the single-digit mark. Dwayne Bravo and Mitchell Santner then scored 20 and 22 respectively to provide some respectability to the total. Following the game, Rohit Sharma pointed out the factor that made Mumbai Indians thoroughly dominate the game.

The Mumbai Indians skipper said that Dhoni’s absence was a massive boost before lauding his team’s effort.

“It’s a massive boost to any opposition if he’s (MS Dhoni) not around. His presence does a lot for their team. When you don’t have him when you’re chasing, it becomes slightly difficult. They must have felt his absence. He was sick, uncontrollable. It was a great effort from us.

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“We played some excellent cricket. We are not yet there (playoffs). We have to be at it. Next three – two against KKR and one against SRH. As a team when we go forward, we are clear what to do. We want more good days than bad days. We have learnt from our losses,” said Rohit at the presentation ceremony.