MS Dhoni and Ravichandran Ashwin have an interesting partnership in the IPL. Not many people know that Ashwin has stumped 10 batters throughout his IPL career, with Dhoni doing the stumping for nine of those. This shows Ashwin’s cleverness and Dhoni’s quick reflexes, which have caught many batters off guard over the last 18 seasons. Notably, four of those stumpings came from wide balls.
Statistics from Cricviz show that Ashwin’s best stumping records came while he was with CSK and the Rising Pune Supergiants, where he stumped nine batters in 114 matches. In contrast, while playing for the Punjab Kings, Rajasthan Royals, and Delhi Capitals, he managed just one stumping in 101 matches. This clearly indicates that Ashwin performs better with Dhoni behind the stumps.
Recently, it was the Ashwin-Dhoni combo that got rid of Rana, with Ashwin throwing a wide delivery outside of his reach, allowing Dhoni to stump him. Before that, Rana had a standout performance, scoring 81 runs off 36 balls and helping the Rajasthan Royals set a decent total of 182/9.
Rajasthan was put in to bat first after CSK’s captain Ruturaj Gaikwad won the toss and opted to bowl. Coming off a loss against Royal Challengers Bangalore, CSK made two changes: Jamie Overton came in for Sam Curran, and Vijay Shankar replaced Deepak Hooda. The Rajasthan Royals, having lost their first two matches, kept the same lineup.