The moderator asked the question with much excitement in his voice, ‘Leading the 200th match, must be a lot of emotion, a lot of celebration, how does it feel?’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni replied in a nonchalant voice, “I didn’t know…these milestones come and go!” No one has come close to Dhoni’s milestones of captaincy in IPL since a long time ago. In all, he has led in 214 matches. Rohit Sharma is two behind the record by tossing in 146 matches.

Dhoni’s franchise cricket chapter is almost entirely Chennai Super Kings. The home match against Rajasthan Royals on Wednesday completed his double-century in the Chennai jersey. Dhoni, leadership, and Chennai have been synonymous since the beginning of IPL. Chennai Super Kings owner Narayanaswamy Srinivasan handed over a special memento to Dhoni before this match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

After the match, Dhoni was asked about the milestone. But he didn’t care about this personal achievement. “Honestly I didn’t know (before the match) it was my 200th match. Not much comes and goes. I’ve never thought much about milestones. How much is the difference between 199 and 200 matches? It’s not a big deal. The real thing is how I’m getting on the field and how much I’m enjoying cricket. That is more important to me. The 200th match is so good of course, to be able to play for such a long time… Thanks to the almighty, with his help, I have come this far. But as I said, this milestone does not matter.” What is more important to Dhoni, they had to leave the field today with disappointment in the field performance. They lost to Rajasthan Royals by 3 runs.

Dhoni, however, eventually tried to take Ravindra Jadeja with him. Chennai needed 54 runs in the last 3 overs. Dhoni’s two sixes in Adam Jumpers over brought excitement back to the game. In the next over, two sixes and a four came from Jadeja’s bat. 21 runs are needed in the last over.

Sandeep Sharma wides the first two balls of the over. Dhoni could not get a run from the next ball Yorker. But then he hit two brilliant sixes in a row. It takes 3 balls and then 7 runs. Dhoni took a single off the fourth ball. Jadeja took a single on the fifth ball yorker. Sandeep also yorked the last ball. Dhoni could not take more than one run.

Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson said after the match that Dhoni was at the crease and they could not rest assured at the end.
“As long as that man (Dhoni) is at the crease, the match is never over. He has to be admired and everyone knows what he can do. That’s why everyone was fully engaged in the match because everyone knew that if he survives, there is no such thing as the end before the end.”