MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings slumped to a nail-biting three-wicket loss to Delhi Capitals in an IPL 2021 clash in Dubai on Monday (October 4). As the game went down to the wire in the final over bowled by Dwayne Bravo, the cameraman panned to Dhoni’s daughter Ziva in the stands, who was seen praying for a CSK win.
The image instantly went viral all over social media with fans calling it ‘cutest thing ever’. Ziva was sitting on her mother Sakshi’s lap had her eyes close and was praying for a win for her dad’s team. Soon Twitter flooded with messages of saying how cute Ziva was looking.
M S Dhoni daughter Ziva Dhoni praying for #CSK win .. #DCvCSK #IPL2021 pic.twitter.com/UeS14rse0S
— (@CricCrazyMrigu) October 4, 2021
Cutest pic on Internet today #Ziva #ZivaDhoni pic.twitter.com/4DOCYs6Ha1
— // (@_Beingkhiladi_) October 4, 2021
Ziva praying for CSK's victory is the cutest thing I saw today..
Made my day #IPL #Dhoni #MSD #CSK
— Santhosh YVD (@Yvd_Santhosh) October 4, 2021
Meanwhile, CSK coach Stephen Fleming came in defence of skipper Dhoni, saying he was not the only batter to struggle on the Dubai wicket. Shimron Hetmyer played an unbeaten knock of 28 runs off just 18 balls to help Delhi Capitals defeat CSK by three wickets with two balls to spare.
“Dhoni was not the only one, it was a difficult day for strokeplay. 137 was almost enough, it was a tough wicket to score big on in terms of big shots, both teams struggled with it towards the end of the innings. Sometimes, you set your sights too high, probably we were just 10-15 runs short of having a match-winning score,” said Fleming during a virtual post-match press conference.
“That is the difficulty at the moment, trying to assess what the conditions are at three different grounds, there was no lack of intent. We had to stabilise after a couple of mistakes. Delhi bowled well in the last five overs, they were really smart,” he added.
Earlier, Ambati Rayudu played an unbeaten knock of 55 runs off 43 balls as CSK posted a total of 136/5 in the allotted twenty overs. For Delhi Capitals, Axar Patel returned with figures of 2/18.
CSK will next lock horns against Punjab Kings on Thursday at the Dubai International Stadium.
(with ANI inputs)
