It’s April 18, 2010, and we are at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, arguably the most serene and beautiful ground in the entirety of the world, for the all-important clash between Kings XI Punjab and Chennai Super Kings. The lush and scenic mountain ranges in the backdrop of the ground, that were visible a couple of hours ago, have vanished, for the night skies have broadened their presence at the stadium, but that is not the only thing dark out there in Himachal; Also dark is CSK’s future in the competition, with them needing a victory in this encounter to stay alive in the tournament. The only ray of light for the yellow army is their skipper MS Dhoni, who needs to score 4 runs off the last 3 balls to propel his side into the semis. The responsibility of stopping the CSK skipper from doing so is with Irfan Pathan, who already has conceded 12 runs off the first 3 balls. But before we get to the climax, it’s important for us to hit the pause button and understand how we got to this stage. 

Led by the Indian skipper himself, the Super Kings, or more prominently known as CSK, lost the final of the first season by a whisker and then once again in season two, reached the semi-final. While there was an air of uncertainty surrounding the rest of the teams, all of who had the tendency to blow hot and cold, there was nothing inconsistent about the Super Kings - they were solid, well-knit and knew exactly what they needed to do to win games. Let’s just say that they figured out the concept of IPL way earlier than most of the other teams; the irony, though, was that they had not won the competition despite that. 

But cricket matches are not won on paper, and the sport itself provides more plot twists than any crime thriller out there in the movie industry, and so the Cricketing Gods had CSK lose their very first encounter of the 2010 season against defending champions Deccan Chargers - at home.  But when you have a cool and calm influence like Dhoni in your dressing room, you just won’t hit the panic button (ever) and so unsurprisingly, CSK stuck to their mantra of doing things the only way they know - and it paid rich dividends. They ended up winning their next two matches and had established that the defeat to Deccan in game one was nothing but an unexpected blip. 

But what followed in the next four games left the entire team - and hundreds of thousands of fans who’d jumped into the CSK bandwagon ahead of the tournament - shell-shocked as they lost each of their next four encounters, meaning four points was all they had from their first SEVEN encounters. For a team that had breezed through to the semi-finals in each of the first two editions without breaking a sweat, this was unfathomable; some even considered it rock bottom.

The thing about champion sides, though, is that adversity tends to bring the best out of them and boy you can be sure that CSK were one. Needing to win 5 of their remaining seven games in the group stages, the Super Kings won four of their next five games. Heroes are born in times of despair, and at that very moment, CSK found their hero in the form of local boy Murali Vijay. It was the Tamil Nadu lad who kick-started the flurry of victories with a 39-ball 78 against RCB at Chepauk, then, in the very next game, he smacked a 56-ball 127 against Rajasthan Royals to both announce his arrival to the big stage, and CSK’s to IPL 03. They left it late to arrive, but at that point, it didn’t matter. 

So, needing to win just one of their last two remaining matches looked pretty simple for a team that had momentum on its side but things became complicated when they slumped to an embarrassing defeat at home against Delhi Daredevils in the penultimate group game. What this meant was that the Super Kings’ final group game against Kings XI Punjab became a do-or-die encounter; lose and they were out of the competition.

Despite losing the openers cheaply, healthy contributions from the duo of Raina and Badrinath meant that CSK hung in there despite the required rate climbing and, as the script had it, it had to come down to the skipper Dhoni to take them over the line. Having bludgeoned his way to 36 off 25 balls, Dhoni was left with the task of hitting 16 runs off the final over, bowled by Irfan Pathan, to take CSK to victory. 12 points were all CSK had in their kitty, and they already had Delhi leapfrog them earlier to 14 points, and had KKR breathing down their necks with 12 points and a game left in hand. To put it simply, Dhoni had to hit 16 runs in the final over to take CSK into the semi-final. Of course, that their NRR was superior than both DD and KKR helped them.

4, 2 and 6 were what Dhoni started the over off with, and all of a sudden, the equation was down CSK needed 4 off 3 balls with 6 wickets in hand to book a place in the semi-final. Yellow shirts in the stands were few and far between, but millions of CSK fans in their homes, after the third ball, were jumping in uncontrollable joy and ecstasy. Ten seconds were all it lasted, though, for, at the flick of a switch, the faces turned serious, knowing the job was still not fully done. And so it brings us to THE MOMENT.

Welcome to a moment in history.