When Krunal Pandya fails to ‘Mankad’ Dhoni as CSK skipper was pretty well in crease


MS Dhoni was conscious about his position as Krunal's plans went in vain

Krunal Pandya
Krunal Pandya. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Ever since Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) skipper Ravichandran Ashwin ‘Mankaded’ Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) Jos Buttler in the first match of the ongoing IPL in Jaipur, the batsmen wait at the non-striker’s end are being more cautious. The incident earned a backlash and the cricketing fraternity was divided over Ashwin’s act with some supporting him saying he was well within the laws of the game while others accusing him of violating the spirit of the gentleman’s game.

On Wednesday, the IPL 12 almost ended up witnessing another instance of ‘Mankading’ in the game between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Wankhede Stadium. The players involved on this occasion were all-rounder Krunal Pandya and Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Krunal stopped while releasing the ball but MSD sensed it well ahead

It was in the 14th over of the CSK winnings when Kedar Jadhav and Dhoni were batting in pursuit of the target of 171 in 20 overs against the MI. Krunal came into bowl and it was the fifth delivery of the over. Krunal suddenly stopped without releasing the delivery, repeating his act against Kings XI Punjab’s Mayank Agarwal a few days ago.

Krunal did not dislodge the bails in case of Mayank and had just warned him. Against Dhoni, however, there was no need for a warning as he never left the crease. MI’s Quinton de Kock was spotted smiling behind the wickets after Krunal’s act. “He does most things right. Very rarely will you see him doing something that is incorrect,” commentator Sanjay Manjrekar was heard saying.

Dhoni though didn’t last long on the pitch and was dismissed by Hardik Pandya in the very next over. Thereby, CSK were left reeling at 87/5. The MI restricted the CSK to 133/8 to win the game by 37 runs. It was Chennai’s first loss of the season. Earlier, the MI innings received a massive boost from death-over hitting by Hardik Pandya (25 not out off 8 balls) and Kieron Pollard (17 not out off 7) who added 45 runs in the last two overs.
