WATCH: 41-year-old MS Dhoni smashes two consecutive massive sixes to Mark Wood in the final over against Lucknow, crowd go crazy

The action returned in the Indian T20 League (ITL) on Monday, with MS Dhoni’s Chennai facing off against KL Rahul’s Lucknow in both sides’ second game of the season. Chennai came into the game with a comprehensive defeat against defending champions Gujarat. On the other hand, Lucknow were riding high after their 50-run win against Delhi on Saturday’s doubleheader day.

Lucknow won the toss and elected to field first, inviting Chennai to bat first. The home team started off gloriously as openers Ruturaj Gaikwad and Devon Conway stitched a 110-run opening partnership. Handy contributions from Shivam Dube (27 off 16), Moeen Ali (19 off 13), Ambati Rayudu (27 off 14) and skipper MS Dhoni (12 off 3) took Chennai’s total to a mammoth 217/7 within their quota of 20 overs.

MS Dhoni played just three balls with two consecutive sixes

MS Dhoni played an eye-catching three-ball cameo in the final over bowled by Mark Wood. Dhoni hit the first ball above the third-man fielder for a maximum and then pulled a bouncer for another maximum. He hit the third ball in the air as well but mistimed the ball, giving away an easy catch to Ravi Bishnoi, who helped Wood reach his three wickets. Dhoni, thus, departed, scoring 12 runs off three balls at the strike rate of 400.

Here’s the video:

There were not many positives for the visitors in their bowling effort. But, two of their bowlers completed three-wicket hauls – Mark Wood and Ravi Bishnoi. Avesh Khan returned with one wicket in the game but remained expensive, conceding 39 in his three overs. Mark Wood also went for 49 runs in his four overs. However, the story for Bishnoi was slightly different; the star Indian bowler maintained a decent economy rate of 7 per over, as per T20 standards and remained the pick of the bowlers for the visiting side.

Lucknow will now need 218 runs to win in 20 overs if they want to continue their winning streak. On the other hand, Chennai have done their job well with the willow and have significantly improved from their poor showing against the defending champions in the season opener. Next, in the 16^th edition of the IndianT20 League, Delhi Capitals will face off against Hardik Pandya’s Gujarat.