The IPL team Chennai Super Kings scripted history by lifting the IPL trophy for the fifth time after defeating Gujarat Titans in the final match of the tournament which was played on 29 May 2023 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
While we have seen that it is the skipper of the winning team who lifts the trophy and then he hands it over to his teammates but MS Dhoni chose to give the chance to lift the trophy first to his CSK teammates Ambati Rayudu and Ravindra Jadeja.
Ambati Rayudu had already announced that the final of the IPL 2023 would be his last IPL match as he is taking retirement. He also played a useful cameo of 19 runs for which he played 8 deliveries and smashed 1 four and 2 sixes. Ravindra Jadeja was the man who clinched victory from GT at the last moment as he scored 10 runs required for victory in the last 2 balls by smashing a six first and then a four on the last ball of the innings.
Recently Ambati Rayudu opened up on this heartwarming gesture of MS Dhoni. He said that Mahi called both of them before the ceremony and asked them to come with him to lift the trophy as he felt that it was the right thing to do. Rayudu stated that it was very special on Dhoni’s part as this gesture tells us what a person he is. Rayudu further praises Dhoni, saying that he thinks such a thing has never happened till now.
Talking about Ambati Rayudu, the head coach of CSK, Stephen Fleming says that Ambati Rayudu is a legend and the three shots (6, 4 and 6) against the most in-form bowler Mohit Sharma shows the class of Rayudu. Fleming further says that there is no doubt Ambati Rayudu will leave a hole in CSK but the game will keep moving on and it was very emotional time for him as well as the team.
In the IPL 2023 final, Gujarat Titans posted a big total of 214/4 on the score board after batting first but the target for CSK was revised to 171 and the overs were reduced to 15 as rain halted the match for some time. CSK achieved the target on the last ball of the match and with this, the dream of GT to win their consecutive second trophy came to an end.
MS Dhoni was praised a lot on the social media as well for this gesture. Legend for a reason!