IPL 2021: MS Dhoni Fined Rs 12 Lakhs For Chennai's Slow Over-Rate Against Delhi Capitals

MS Dhoni seemed helpless defending Chennai Super Kings’ par total of 188 on Saturday against the Delhi Capitals as openers Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan made a mockery of the target. The Capitals, led by new skipper Rishabh Pant, gunned down the target in 18.4 overs to open their account on the points table.

However, it wasn’t just it for MS Dhoni’s miseries – the CSK skipper has been imposed a fine of Rs 12 lakhs by the IPL for his team maintaining a slow over-rate. CSK couldn’t maintain the minimum over rate – 14.1 overs per hour – which was decided by the IPL pre-season.

“As it was his team’s first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Mr Dhoni was fined Rs 12 lakh,” said a statement from the IPL.

This was MS Dhoni’s first offence this season, in CSK’s first match itself; If the offence is repeated, for the second time, he will be fined a sum of Rs 24 lakhs, and for the third time, not only will the Ranchi-born be fined Rs 30 lakhs, but he will also be banned for one IPL match.

“As a measure to control the match timings, the 20th over in each innings is now included in 90 minutes, earlier the 20th over was to start on or before the 90th minute. The minimum over rate to be achieved in IPL Matches shall be 14.11 overs per hour (ignoring the time taken by time-outs),” stated a BCCI rule as quoted by Cricbuzz.

Dew was one factor that was playing on our minds right from the start: MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni, who scored a 2-ball duck, is displeased with matches starting at 7.30 PM instead of 8 PM. He reckons the side batting second enjoys the dew advantage for their entire innings, while the team batting first has to bat about 30 minutes in drier conditions.

The powerplay scores of the two teams – CSK’s 33/2 compared to DC’s 65/0 – reflects the same. CSK face Punjab Kings next on Friday at the same venue.

“You have to look ahead. Especially when you have dew in your mind and you are batting first, you want to get those extra 10-15 runs – that was normally in 8pm start games.

“[Now the] 7.30 start means the opposition will have at least half an hour when there will be very little amount of dew on the field, which means it will not come on as nicely as it will in the second innings. So you have to score those 15-20 extra runs to make it even, and after that also you have to get early wickets to make a big mark on the game,” MS Dhoni said at the post-match presentation.

“Dew was one factor that was playing on our minds right from the star. That is the reason why we wanted to get as many runs as possible. Looking at the wicket, our batters did a very good job to reach 188 because the first few overs the wicket was a bit tacky, till the dew set in, which was a good 45 to 50 minutes after the start of the game,” the former India skipper added.

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