On April 12, 2023, in Match No. 17 of the IPL, Chennai Super Kings led by MS Dhoni faced off against Sanju Samson’s Rajasthan Royals. The highly anticipated match between these two star-studded teams took place in front of a packed Chepauk crowd.
However, unlike their last encounter, CSK narrowly lost by three runs. Rajasthan’s win, their third in four matches, propelled them to the top of the points table. Amidst the excitement of the CSK-RR match, there was an unnoticed incident that occurred during the first over of the chase. Sandeep Sharma was bowling, and CSK opener Ruturaj Gaikwad was at the strike.
Ruturaj, who had scored fifties in the first two matches of this year’s cash-rich league, narrowly avoided injury in a minor incident. During the CSK innings, as Sandeep prepared to bowl his fourth ball in the first over, Ruturaj shifted from his position at the last moment due to some disturbance behind the bowler.
However, at that moment, Sandeep had already released the ball, which was aimed directly at Ruturaj. The batsman quickly used his hands to protect himself and was fortunate to avoid any major injuries. After the incident, Sandeep checked on Ruturaj’s well-being, and the two shared a light-hearted moment.
The camera then panned towards CSK’s dressing room, where Ben Stokes, the England Test captain and a member of CSK’s IPL 2023 squad, was seen chuckling at the incident. The video of Stokes’ reaction to the incident has since gone viral on social media platforms.
In regards to the match, the home team fell short in their chase of 176 runs set by the Royals, managing to post only 172 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets. Despite efforts from CSK’s skipper and legendary batsman MS Dhoni, and former captain and star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja, who smashed five sixes in the last 15 runs of the chase, the team was unable to secure a victory.
Sandeep, who was brought in as a replacement for injured Prasidh Krishna, maintained his composure for the visitors and delivered an excellent yorker on the last ball of the match against the in-form Dhoni, securing RR’s triumph.