IPL 2021: Avesh Khan reveals how Pant helped him dismiss MS Dhoni during group matches

In the ongoing  IPL 2021, Delhi Capitals skipper Risabh Pant helped the team's young pacer Avesh Khan dismiss legendary CSK captain, MS Dhoni not once, but twice. Dhoni was dismissed for the first time by Khan during match no. 2 of IPL 2021 that was played on April 10. He was yet again dismissed for the second time by the young bowler during match no. 50 of IPL 2021 on October 4. 

In the first DC vs CSK encounter in phase-I of the 2021 season, Dhoni was dismissed by Avesh in his second ball. Avesh Khan delivered the ball on a hard length outside the off stump and Dhoni ended up pulling the delivery onto his stumps. While speaking to ESPNcricinfo about Dhoni’s dismissal, Khan revealed the conversation he had with skipper Pant as Dhoni walked into the pitch. He said that he was told by the captain to not pitch fuller length deliveries and bowl his regular length. Talking more about the instructions by Pant, Khan added, “So I did that and the second ball, he [Dhoni] attempted to hit over when he saw both fielders [mid-on and mid-off] inside the circle. He had not played for a while, and Rishabh took advantage of that and we got the wicket”.

DC won both the league stage matches against CSK in IPL 2021

Khan also added that at first, he disagreed with the skipper’s idea to bring in five fielders inside the 30-yard circle, but went with Pant’s instinct in the second ball and got his reward. When asked about DC vs CSK match on Oct 4, particularly regarding Dhoni's dismissal, Khan said that during the match, Rishabh Pant asked him to pitch a hard length delivery and let Dhoni hit from there as it was not easy to go for the shot. Khan delivered as per the instructions and Dhoni edged the ball to Pant behind the stumps. DC went on to win both the group-stage matches against CSK, finding the better of the second-placed team in the IPL 2021 points table.

However, when DC and CSK faced each other for the third time in Qualifier 1 of the IPL 2021 playoffs on October 10, Dhoni smashed the 24-year-old bowler for a six over the wide long-on in the second ball he faced during Khan’s last over of the match. Dhoni hit the winning runs for CSK in the match and secured their spot in the IPL 2021 final.

(Image: Instagram- @iplt20/ BCCI)