MS Dhoni closing his eyes when Jadeja hit the highest in the last over of the IPL 2023 final

 

The frame freezes as the camera pans towards Dhoni sitting in the CSK dugout just before Jadeja faces the last ball.

When CSK needed 4 off the last ball and Ravindra Jadeja hit a full toss off the pads of Mohit Sharma, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad went up in flames. Jadeja launches a mad dash with his hands in the air without any proper destination. CSK players knew where to go but their dash from the dugout was scattered.

Amidst all this, Dhoni got up from his seat and hugged the rest of the CSK support staff in the dugout. He doesn't let success get to him. It was his fifth IPL title as captain so what? Dhoni doesn't change and neither does his reaction.

A careful study of the available footage reveals that the frame froze for a few seconds when the cameras panned toward Dhoni sitting in the CSK dugout, with his eyes closed just before Mohit Sharma was at the top of his mark. The same eyes-closed frame was repeated twice - when Mohit started his run-up and at the end when Jadeja scored the winning runs.

After that, Dhoni was seen hugging and lifting Jadeja as the all-rounder came running towards his skipper. It was worth seeing.

It was an epic final in more ways than one. It stretched for about three days. Sunday was a washout. It went into the reserve day and rain intervened once again, setting CSK a revised target of 171 in 15 overs after GT posted a massive 214/4 in their 20 overs. It was past midnight when CSK resumed their innings at 4/0 in 0.3 overs. Devon Conway (47 off 25 balls), Ajinkya Rahane (27 off 13 balls), and Jadeja (15 off 6 balls) combined efforts as CSK clinched their fifth IPL title off the last ball of the tournament.