Former World Cup-winning captain of Australia, Michael Clarke, said MS Dhoni is still the best wicketkeeper in the world after the latter powered Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to their second win of the season. The CSK defeated Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium in Lucknow on Monday. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 26 off 11 balls, while Shivam Dube hit unbeaten 43 off 37 to help CSK win the match by 5 wickets.

The 43-year-old, who took over CSK captaincy this season after Ruturaj Gaikwad was ruled out of the season with an elbow injury, inflicted three dismissals as the glovesman against the Super Giants. He stumped Ayush Badoni off the bowling of Ravindra Jadeja, took the catch of Rishabh Pant off the bowling of Matheesha Pathirana, and ran out Abdul Samad.

Due to this outstanding performance as a wicketkeeper, Dhoni has become the first player to effect 200 dismissals in the IPL.

“It is always loud when MS Dhoni's in town. Look, his keeping does not surprise me. I have said it before, in my opinion, he is still the best wicketkeeper in the world. It is phenomenal how consistent he has been over a long period of time. I thought his captaincy was spot on tonight as well, the way he used both spinners through the middle, got through overs quick, built some pressure,” said Clarke on Star Sports.

Clarke also ushered praise on Dhoni's leadership skills and game reading capacity that allow him to rotate the spinners wisely.

“The best thing that happened tonight was MS Dhoni's captaincy. It was phenomenal. He read the situation, he adjusted to the conditions, he bowled his spinners in tandem, exactly like MS Dhoni has done his entire career. He got them on, they rushed through the overs, they changed the pace of the game, they used the surface, they picked up wickets. I just think his experience out there on the field was defining tonight as captain,” Clarke added.

Dhoni faced brutal criticism at the beginning of the season for batting lower down the order. However, his quickfire 26 off 11 against LSG and an unbeaten 57-run partnership off 28 balls with Shivam Dube helped CSK win the match by 5 wickets and with three balls to spare on Monday. Dhoni was adjudged the Player of the Match.

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