IPL 2021: Shane Watson reveals the first time he saw MS Dhoni frustrated

Shane Watson, the former Australian cricketer, has revealed that the first time he saw MS Dhoni frustrated was during the 2019 Indian Premier League (IPL) final between Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. The game went right down to the wire as Rohit Sharma’s MI won by a solitary run.

Lasith Malinga trapped Shardul Thakur plumb in front to make sure that the Super Kings couldn’t chase down 150 in their 20 overs. As per Watson, the entire situation got the better of Dhoni, who showed his agitation in the dressing room after the end of the match.

“How the finals played out? We were able to get on top of them. That ball, oh Jesus… that was the first time I saw MS Dhoni show frustration in the change room, albeit it was only a tiny bit around that time,” Watson was quoted as saying in Star Sports.

To be able to play any IPL final is huge: Shane Watson

Watson, who played for the Super Kings from 2018 to 2020, scored 80 runs off 59 balls with eight fours and four sixes, but couldn’t take his team over the line. The veteran, who retired from international cricket after the 2016 T20 World Cup, garnered a lot of praises for the knock.

Going down the memory lane, Watson said that in 2019, CSK had their travails while playing against the five-time IPL champions. The veteran had also scored a ton in the 2018 IPL final.

“To be able to play any IPL final is huge, but playing against Mumbai Indians that year was big in IPL 2019. They had beaten us comprehensively in both games, and in the build-up to the final, we knew we had to play out of our skins really,” he added.

In the ongoing edition of the T20 league, the Super Kings are placed on top of the points table with five wins from their first seven matches. On Saturday, May 1, Dhoni’s men lost to MI by four wickets at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi after posting 218 runs on the board.