IPL 2025: MS Dhoni's DRS call fails as Khaleel Ahmed's celebrappeal ends in vain (Photo Source - Twitter/X)
The first delivery of the third over in the ongoing clash between Chennai Super Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru saw Virat Kohli surviving a close DRS call taken by and Ruturaj Gaikwad in conjunction after an extremely confident appeal from Khaleel Ahmed on Friday, February 28.
A full delivery from left-arm-over skid through, with Kohli missing his intended trademark flick. The on-field umpire remained unfazed despite a full-fledged appeal by Khaleel and the sea of yellow present at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
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Khaleel was so confident that he straightaway signalled Dhoni to go ahead with the review. Skipper, Ruturaj Gaikwad, signalled the customary "T" to the umpire. The replays showed the ball to be pitching outside the line of the leg stump, which meant Kohli survived the call. It also meant lost a review quite early on in the piece. RCB were put in to bat after Gaikwad won the toss and opted to field first.
There were two prominent changes made in the XIs for both sides. The hosts saw Matheesha Pathirana return to the setup in place of Nathan Ellis. Pathirana did not play CSK's IPL 2025 opener against Mumbai Indians due to having sustained an injury ahead of the game. As for , Rasikh Salam made way for Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who missed the game against Kolkata Knight Riders due to a minor injury.
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It was quite a fruitful powerplay for the visitors, with them accumulating 56 off the first six. Phil Salt departed inside the same phase, but not before accumulating 32 off 16 deliveries. On the other hand, Kohli took his own time to settle. At the end of the powerplay, he had scored 11 off 15 balls. At the time of writing, RCB have put up 177 with a loss of 6 wickets on the board.
