Five of the best last-over finishes of MS Dhoni in limited overs cricket

There is a famous saying ‘When the going gets tough, the tough gets going’. Indian limited overs captain MS Dhoni exemplifies this quote with his last-over finishes as he has taken India over the line many times in the dying moments of matches. Here are five of his best last-over finishes so far.

2. Chennai Super Kings vs Kings XI Punjab, Dharamshala 2010

Irfan Pathan was to bowl the last six balls of the match, and Dhoni was on strike. The first ball was not bad, a wide ball, almost a yorker, but Dhoni powered it through the long-off for a four. The second ball was not bad at all – slow and back of a length and Dhoni skied it. Piyush Chawla was slow off the blocks and messes up a potential catch. The third ball was a missed yorker, and Dhoni bludgeoned the ball a 106 metres over the long-on fence well above the stands. Cricinfo's commentary famously read “McLeodganj, send the ball back please!”. Another scorching six over long-off and CSK were through.

It was an intensely emotional moment for the man. He was so pumped up, so pumped up that he dealt himself a solid uppercut as he ran down the pitch shouting to himself past team-mate Morkel. He had seen bigger stages and won in them, but this night was something special.

After a horrendous Test series, India were scheduled to play a tri-series with Sri Lanka and Australia. It was the fourth match of the series, and Australia chose to bat in some perfect conditions. Peter Forrest scored a fifty on his debut which took Australia to 269. While chasing, Dhoni came to bat in the 35th over after the fall of Gambhir.  Dhoni took India within striking distance in the company of Suresh Raina and then Jadeja before he as well fell by the wayside. Clint McKay came into bowl the last over with 13 runs still needed. Ravi Ashwin made just one run off the first two balls. And then, Dhoni launched a towering six over long on in the third ball of the over. The next ball was a high full toss that Dhoni swung to deep midwicket straight into the hands of Warner, but then, a no-ball was called for height. In the next delivery, Dhoni took the safe route and made three runs for India, as India defeated Australia by 4 wickets with 2 balls remaining.

4.India vs Sri Lanka, Port-of-Spain 2013

With 15 runs needed in the last over, things were set to go down to the wire. But Dhoni felt otherwise. He asked for a replacement to his bat, and suddenly the air in the stadium was buzzing with anticipation. No runs came from the first delivery of the over, and then Dhoni went mad -  it was 6,4,6 off the next three and the first six was so huge that it ended up in the roof of the stadium.

With that, India had lifted the Tri-nations tournament. MSD, evidently, was the Man of the Match!

This match was more about pride than anything else - both the teams were out of the tournament already. Pune had struggled through the league as its batsmen kept marching to the infirmary one after the other, and when Punjab scored 172, it seemed as if Pune would lose the last match as well. In came Dhoni in the 12th over with 95 runs needed off 52 balls. Irfan Pathan left immediately after and Thisara Perrera departed in the penultimate over after some lusty blows. Pune still needed 23 runs from the last over.

Axar Patel came over to bowl the final over, and delivers a brilliant first ball down the middle that even Dhoni could not get away. After a wide, the next ball saw Dhoni respond with a mighty club over long-on for a six. On the next ball, Hashim Amla made a brilliant fielding effort to stop a definite boundary from out of nowhere, and the equation came to 16 off 3 balls.