MS Dhoni has often thrilled his fans on the few occasions that he has walked out to bat this season in the Indian Premier League (IPL) but that wasn't quite the case in Dharamsala during Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) match against Punjab Kings (PBKS). Dhoni has usually walked out in the lower order this season, walking out earlier only in case there aren't too many balls left in the innings.

On Sunday, though, he walked out from all the way down at No.9 in the 19th over with CSK's score being 150/7 below even Mitchell Santner and Shardul Thakur. Harshal had cleaned up Thakur off just the previous ball with a slow yorker. He bowled the same delivery to Dhoni. The former CSK captain was too early on his shot and his stumps were blasted away.

The entire sequence of events, right from Dhoni walking out as a No.9 batter, and then being out for a golden duck, has sparked quite a lot of memes online. Here are are a few of them:

Ball by Ball highlights of Thala Dhoni's cameo ?? pic.twitter.com/s6VKjQvvI8

— Aravind Rohit ?? (@140_Manchester_) May 5, 2024

CSK thrash PBKS

CSK were limited to a score of 167/9, which at the time looked below par considering the ridiculously high run chases that have been normalised in the IPL this season. However, Punjab Kings never got away in their chase. Tushar Deshpande's double strike in the second over hampered any chances of them dominating the powerplay and PBKS were 47/2 at the end of the first six overs.

Dhoni eventually became the first player to take 150 catches in the IPL when Ravindra Jadeja dismissed Jitesh Sharma for a golden duck. Jadeja ended with figures of 3/20, having dismissed PBKS opener Prabhsimran Singh and captain Sam Curran as well. PBKS were eventually restricted to 139/9 and CSK won the game by 28 runs.

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