‘Dhoni has UnFINISHed Business’

MUMBAI: Dhoni (28 not out off 13 balls, 3 fours, 1 six) struck a four off the last delivery of the match to help Chennai win its second game of the IPL 2022 season. Meanwhile, Mumbai became the first franchise to suffer defeat in each of its opening seven matches.

“It is very good that he is still hungry [for runs and wins],” Jadeja said after Dhoni’s heroics against MI. “His touch is still there. And, looking at it, all of us remain calm, [knowing] that if he is in the middle and stays till the last over, he will win the game,” added Jadeja.

“We were tense, but had the belief that he (Dhoni) was out there and would finish the game. He has won so many games for India and in the IPL. We knew that he would finish the game.” In the last over of the contest, Dhoni smashed Jaydev Unadkat for two fours and a maximum, leaving the left-arm pacer and his Mumbai teammates shattered.

“Look, we were in (under) pressure. The way the match was going, I believe there was pressure in both the dugouts. We had the world’s best finisher (Dhoni) in the middle. We had the belief that he would not miss the final two to three balls and luckily, that happened,” said Jadeja, who took over captaincy from Dhoni ahead of the season.

Jadeja said that the management decided to back Mukesh Choudhary although the fast bowler was not at his best in the previous two outings. And, left-armer Mukesh (3/19) delivered against Mumbai as he wreaked havoc with the new ball.

“His skill of swinging the ball is very good, so we backed him. He did not perform well in the last one or two games. Despite that, we backed him as we knew that he would take wickets. Luckily, he bowled well and tried to swing the ball, which helped him in getting the wickets,” the 33-year-old Jadeja went on to add.