Over the years, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has earned a reputation for keeping his nerves calm in tense situations. So when the "Captain cool" stormed into the field to show his frustration towards an umpiring decision, cricket fans were left in disbelief.
On Thursday night, Chennai Super Kings registered their sixth win in seven games, in a thrilling contest against Rajasthan Royals at Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur.
Needing 3 to win on the final delivery of the match, Mitchell Santner sent Ben Stokes out of the park and guided his team to a nail-biting 4-wicket victory.
The match, however, was marred with controversy when Dhoni did the unthinkable in the final over of the match.
Chennai Super Kings needed 18 runs from the final over but Dhoni was dismissed on the third ball of the over by Stokes.
The fourth delivery of the over bowled to Mitchell Santner was first signalled a no-ball by umpire Ulhas Gandhe, but then the decision was changed after he consulted the square-leg umpire Bruce Oxenford.
This was when, Dhoni, who was seated in the dugout area, stormed into the field and confronted both the umpires, questioning them over the reason of their reversing the decision.
The delivery was eventually deemed legal but replays suggested it was, in fact, a waist-high no-ball. The clip from the controversial incident was later uploaded on IPL's website here: www.iplt20.com.
Seeing Dhoni's rare outburst disappointed many.
Among the firsts for me in today's game was the sight of Dhoni walking out onto the ground. As @MichaelVaughan said on #CricbuzzLIVE it is something he will realise he shouldn't have done.— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 11, 2019
This is not a good look for the game ... No place at all for a Captain to storm onto the pitch from the Dugout ... !! #IPL— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) April 11, 2019
Umpiring standards have been pretty low in this #IPL and that was a no-ball given and reversed. Enough to feel crossed and miffed. But the opposition captain has no right to walk out on the pitch after being dismissed. Dhoni set a wrong precedent tonight. #RRvCSK #IPL— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 11, 2019
Gavaskar had once walked out. Dhoni has now walked in.Unacceptable.— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) April 11, 2019
Umpire decision is final, whether it's right or wrong. No player has the right to question him. Be it dhoni or sachin or virat.! Dhoni is a player. Not bigger than the game.! He was behaving like a school kid by coming in the ground. Totally unacceptable #RRvCSK #IPLT20 #RRvCSK pic.twitter.com/HeMdSX3bKV— Chowkidar Abhishek Agarwal (@Abhishek_0055) April 11, 2019
I Believe if Sum Rise From The West...But Hard To Believe That Dhoni lose His Calmness#RRvCSK pic.twitter.com/YUOvreOMLi— YASH Rajput (@yashrajput_13) April 11, 2019
What if it was Kohli? Some wondered the outcome.
Imagine if Kohli did what Dhoni just did there. There would have been calls for Kohli to step down even as the NT captain not even exaggerating.— Tushar (@Tushaar_Lfc) April 11, 2019
If Virat had done this, people would have been talking more about the controversy rather than the result. This is Dhoni and people will brush it under the carpet..— Harisankar (@harish_staycalm) April 11, 2019
While others didn't mind some drama out there on the field, especially one coming from Dhoni.
When MS Dhoni lost his cool Boss..... pic.twitter.com/v4wJ7r98pf— Shakti Solanki (@shaktisolanki00) April 12, 2019
I don't see why Dhoni is being fined for stepping on to the field.He is a Lieutenant Colonel in our Territorial Army. He is trained to cross the boundary.— Ramesh Srivats (@rameshsrivats) April 12, 2019
It was super cool to see my captain lose his cool.. My dear Midas.. you rock ♥️♥️♥️ #dhoni #cskda— Vijayalakshmi A (@vgyalakshmi) April 11, 2019
Dhoni had to step in when umpire made a mistake. Nothing wrong in that. That's what senior umpires do. #RRvCSK— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) April 11, 2019
One of the rarest moments when Captain Cool lost his cool and stormed into the ground to teach some lessons to Poor Umpires. MS Dhoni #RRvCSK #CSKvRR #IPL2019 pic.twitter.com/Pueg8blYV6— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) April 11, 2019
I have never seen #dhoni like this...!!The best part when the Lion(mahi) enter in the field ....Absolutely mind blowing...❤#RRvCSK #Yellove pic.twitter.com/XFiTdQjoXi— Avnish upadhyay (@its_av_nish) April 11, 2019
See this! I got this from somewhere.See dhoni#MSDhoni #cskvsrr #RRvCSK pic.twitter.com/uxgoau2vY4— SOUL々MortaL (@ig_mortal) April 12, 2019
When Dhoni entered in ground middle of the match Rajsthan players to umpire:- bhag bhag sher aaya sher aaya pic.twitter.com/TXxbuvW4SV— prem yadav (@premyad64602116) April 11, 2019
Save this video clip for ages to come, cuz after the discovery of black hole this week, this is an another rarest of rare picture in the history of mankind- "THE ANGRY DHONI"!!!#RRvCSK pic.twitter.com/mEIi65jAVb— Shashank Sneham (@shashank_sneham) April 11, 2019
* Match summary *Rajasthan Royals lost the match.Dhoni lost cool.Umpires lost the reputation.#RRvCSK— Sunil- The cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 11, 2019
Don’t mess with Mahi! Today we witnessed one of the very few rare instances where the ice cool Captain lost his composure!#WhistlePodu #Yellove #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/lBmQTJXfb1— MS Dhoni Fans Official (@msdfansofficial) April 11, 2019
I'll Support Ever So Furious MS Dhoni !We Are Not Playing Gully Cricket, Ridiculous Umpiring Becomes Now Every Day Story !#CSKvRR #RRvCSK #Dhoni pic.twitter.com/EQ0VSCAtfo— MiSs BaGhEl (@IamSiyuBaghel) April 11, 2019
The CSK skipper was named man-of-the-match for his of 58 from just 43 balls with three sixes and two fours.
Dhoni had to pay the penalty for breaching IPL's code of conduct and he admitted to the level 2 offence. He was fined 50% of his match fees for the incident.
