Credit: X/LSG
Former South African cricketer and the fielding coach of Lucknow Super Giants, Jonty Rhodes, presented Deepak Hooda with a magic mike for his brilliance on the field which delayed the onslaught of the former Indian and Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni. The 42-year-old took on the Lucknow bowling late in the innings with an unbeaten 9-ball 28.
With the blistering form that Dhoni was in, the CSK total could have shot up to 200 if the Jharkhand keeper-batter had come early in the game. The moment came for Chennai when 22 balls were still left in the game where Ravindra Jadeja miscued a shot to long-off where Deepak Hooda slipped off the sitter and offered a lifeline to the 35-year-old all-rounder.
It was then Ravi Bishnoi’s next over when Lucknow finally managed to bring on MS Dhoni to the middle but then there were only 13 balls left in the innings. Hailing the brilliance of Hooda hilariously to delay the Dhoni onslaught, Rhodes gifted a toy to the 29-year-old which he termed “Magic Mike.”
Speaking to the team hurdle following an emphatic win over CSK, Rhodes said, “Mike, he’s magical, we know that, so if the fielding award is not just about brilliant performances, fielding is about it went, not the fielding is about the win. So, they have in the yellow team, they have this guy MSD. He is striking at 400%, strike rate.”
He added, “So, I thought that was really smart decision by the birthday boy, yesterday Deepak Hooda, to let the ball go for six, which that mean Dhoni didn’t come out for another five balls. That’s magical, so the magic Mike award goes to Deepak Hooda.”