MS Dhoni’s Rising Pune Supergiants show IPL crown is not implausible goal

Dileep Premachandran writes that on the opening night, with MS Dhoni trading Chennai yellow for Pune purple, his side looked like it could deliver him a third successive IPL title.

Rising Pune Supergiants players celebrate during their IPL win over Mumbai Indians on Saturday night. Punit Paranjpe / AFP / April 9, 2016

Before Saturday night, the last Indian Premier League (IPL) match MS Dhoni played was the 2015 final, against Mumbai Indians.

Dhoni made 18 off 13 balls, as Mumbai romped to a 41-run victory.

It was his 129th IPL match in Chennai Super Kings yellow and, as it turned out, the last.

When he took the field at the Wankhede Stadium, wearing a Rising Pune Supergiants kit that has various shades of purple, blue, tangerine and maroon, there would have been more than a few tears shed by thousands of fans that once followed Chennai with such passion.

There were other iconic players when the IPL began in 2008, but no one came to symbolise a club the way Dhoni did with Chennai.

When the umpires call play though, few have the ability to be as dispassionate as Dhoni.

Read more: Ajinkya Rahane crisply paces dominant Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL opener

Also see: Ajinkya Rahane and Rising Pune Supergiants bowlers star in IPL curtain-raiser – in pictures

This may have been his first game with a new franchise, at the champions' home ground, but Dhoni, who led Chennai to 78 IPL wins – Gautam Gambhir of Kolkata Knight Riders is way behind in second place, on 53 – quietly and efficiently set about planning No 79.

Even as Kevin Pietersen, miked-up and standing at mid-on, exchanged platitudes with the commentator-cheerleaders in the box, Dhoni’s new teammates made a mess of the formidable Mumbai line-up. Ishant Sharma, who has not played for India in this format since October 2013, targeted the stumps, as did Mitchell Marsh, and Mumbai lost their top four inside the first five overs.

Lendl Simmons, whose unbeaten 82 had extinguished India’s World Twenty20 dream just over a week earlier, saw Ishant send his stump cartwheeling, while Marsh squared up the exciting Jos Buttler with the sort of old-fashioned outswing you seldom see in T20 cricket.

But for Dhoni, who helped bring through Ravichandran Ashwin while at Chennai, the most exciting spell would have been the four overs of leg-spin bowled by Murugan Ashwin, a massive Rs45million (Dh2.5m) gamble for the new team.

Even as the more illustrious Ashwin bowled just one over, the 16th of the innings, Murugan mixed it up and conceded just one four and 16 runs.

In Indian conditions, Dhoni’s strategy has often revolved around bowlers who can take the pace off the ball.

In addition to the two Ashwins, Rajat Bhatia, a veteran with more than 15 years’ experience in domestic cricket, could have a key role to play. On an atypical Wankhede pitch, where the ball nibbled around a bit, Bhatia was immaculate, trapping Kieron Pollard leg before in a spell that cost just 10.

Much has been made of Pune’s batting strength, but Dhoni, Steve Smith and Marsh did not even get a hit as the top three blitzed past the meagre target with 32 balls to spare.

Ajinkya Rahane reprised the role he once performed with distinction for the suspended Rajasthan Royals, while Pietersen slammed two sixes on his first appearance for his fifth IPL side.

Three of those that once formed the core of the Chennai team – Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Dwayne Bravo – are now with the Gujarat Lions.

Dhoni has never been a fan of change, and it will be fascinating to see how quickly he adjusts to the new faces around him.

Pietersen is a Twenty20 great, while Adam Zampa, the Aussie leggie who was on the bench for the first game, could also be a trump card as the season wears on.

There is also the man who was Man of the Match when India won the final of the first World T20 back in 2007.

A succession of injuries ensured that Irfan Pathan never scaled the heights predicted, but if Dhoni can coax six good weeks out of him, a third IPL crown – albeit in the ‘wrong’ shirt – is not entirely implausible.

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