MS Dhoni reminisces his 183 in Jaipur, says it gave him 'another one year' to play ODI cricket

By India Today Sports DeskMS Dhoni reminisced about his ODI knock at Sawai Mansingh Stadium on his return to Jaipur for the IPL 2023 match between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on Thursday (April 27).

Dhoni played a match winning innings of 183 not out against Sri Lanka in the third ODI on October 31, 2005. His 145-run knock, which was studded with 15 boundaries and 10 sixes, fetched him the Player of the Match award. Dhoni went on to lead India to the 2011 World Cup glory before retiring from international cricket on August 15, 2020.

The ‘Captain Cool’ Dhoni returned to Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur for the IPL 2023 match, but ended up on the losing side as CSK went down against RR by 32 runs. However, Dhoni said that he was elated to return to the pink city as the stadium had more yellow than pink colour.

“This is a very special venue, my first ODI hundred in Vizag gave me 10 games but the 183 I made here gave me another one year. It was great to be back here,” Dhoni told the broadcaster.

Yashasvi Jaiswal played an impressive knock of 77 of 43 balls before Dhruv Jurel’s quickfire 34 powered RR to post 202/5. In reply, CSK were restricted to 170/6 as Adam Zampa and Ravichandran Ashwin shared five wickets to take RR back on the top spot. While RR have 10 points from eight games, CSK (10 points from eight games) slipped to third.

Dhoni heaped praise on Jaiswal and Rajasthan Royals for putting up a “score above par”.

“They scored quite a bit above par. We gave away too many in the first six. At the same time, wicket was great to bat on. Bowlers bowled well in the middle overs but a lot of edges went for boundaries, at least 5-6 went for them and that had made an impact. They had par-plus and we couldn’t get a good start in the power play with the bat,” Dhoni said.

“Yashasvi batted really well, was important to go after the bowlers and it was important to take calculated risks. We had to assess what a good length is, as captain you tell them but initially we have away a few boundaries and after that you’re always playing catch up. In the end of the innings, Jurel batted well but I think it’s the first six where it got away from us.”