Did not expect MS Dhoni to miss the last ball: Parthiv Patel

Parthiv also insisted that if the former Indian skipper is at the crease then 70 to 80 runs in the last five overs is always gettable at the Chinnaswamy.

Bengaluru: Parthiv Patel, who single-handedly guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to their third victory on Sunday in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League, said he was stunned when CSK skipper MS Dhoni missed the last ball.

After Dhoni missed Umesh Yadav's slower delivery Parthiv Patel sealed RCB's fate with his direct his as Shardul Thakur was short of the crease. In the last over of the match between CSK and RCB, Chennai needed 26 runs to seal yet another victory and they almost won the match when MSD smashed 24 runs off four balls. However, a direct hit by Parthiv Patel saw RCB clinched the match with one run.

Speaking about their win, an elated Parthiv said, “We honestly wanted him (Dhoni) to hit through the off-side on the shorter side of the ground. If he had hit it on the leg-side, there were two runs because I don’t think the way he runs, there was any chance of stopping those two.”

“So we wanted (Umesh) to bowl slower and outside the off-stump and surprisingly he missed it. I wasn’t expecting him to miss it but surprisingly he missed it,” Parthiv added.

Parthiv also insisted that if the former Indian skipper is at the crease then 70 to 80 runs in the last five overs is always gettable at the Chinnaswamy.

MS Dhoni, Parthiv Patel

“Playing in Bangalore or Mumbai, you know that 70 runs in the last five overs are gettable. You need at least have 80-90 runs to get in last five overs to defend. So, we wanted to squeeze him. We wanted to bowl as many dot balls to him as possible and put pressure on other batsmen because everybody knows how MS is. He wanted the game to go down to last three-four overs and he almost won the game,” Patel added.