Faf du Plessis' 50th win as captain overshadows MS Dhoni's 200th IPL game for Chennai

MS Dhoni creates history

One of the legends of Indian cricket, MS Dhoni, created history when he walked in for the all-important toss against the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pune. 

The skipper of the Super Kings outfit became the first player to feature in 200 matches for the franchise in the Indian Premier League.  

Overall, he has featured in 230 matches in the tournament, out of which 200 have been for the Yellow Army and 30 for the Rising Pune Super Giants in the 2016 and 2017 seasons.

Suresh Raina, another integral member of the Chennai side, is second on this list with 176 matches, followed by Ravindra Jadeja with 142 games.  

Virat Kohli creates a special milestone

After being asked to bat first by Chennai, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis walked into the middle for the Men in Red. Despite a below-par performance this season, the two opening batters got the team off to a flying start in the powerplay. 

En route to their 62-run partnership for the first wicket, the former skipper of the Challengers created a remarkable milestone by becoming the first player to play 5000 balls in the tournament. 

While the 33-year-old has faced 5028 balls in the league, his India teammate Shikhar Dhawan, who is second on this list, having played 4863 deliveries. 

An innings Kohli would want to forget 

One of the finest batters in the modern era, Kohli has struggled to get going in this edition of the extravaganza. The right-handed batter anchored the innings with a scratchy 30 off 33 deliveries studded with three boundaries and one six. 

However, Kohli scored at a strike rate of 90.91 in this knock, which is his slowest innings in the competition, where he has scored a minimum of 30 runs. 

In the 2013 season, he endured a similar outing against the Rajasthan Royals, where he scored 32 off 35 balls at a strike rate of 91.43 in Jaipur, which was his second-slowest knock. 

Jadeja's all-around prowess in the IPL

IPL 2022 is something Ravindra Jadeja would want to erase from his memory. The all-arounder is having a tough time with the bat and ball this season and has failed to create any match-winning performances for the side in the 10 matches played thus far. 

However, despite his lukewarm outings this year, Jadeja became the only player to score 2500 runs and take 100+ wickets in the tournament en route to his three-run knock. 

Kohli's special hundred

Defending a target of 174 runs, Royal Challengers Bangalore were in dire need of their bowlers to bowl consistently and their fielders to take all the catches that come their way. 

And Virat Kohli did precisely that as he took two important catches in the back end of the innings to dismiss Jadeja and Dwaine Pretorius and help the Challengers inch closer to the win.

With the crucial catch of the southpaw at mid-off, Kohli became the first player to take 100 catches for the Men in Red in the shortest format of the game. AB de Villiers is second on this list with 70 catches. 

Faf du Plessis' unique half-century 

The Challengers handed over the reins to Faf du Plessis ahead of this season after Kohli stepped down from captaincy last year. 

In the 11 games thus far in this season, du Plessis has led the team to six wins and helped them stay in contention for a place in the playoffs. 

After recording a 13-run win against Chennai, the 37-year-old became the first South African player to record 50 T20 wins as a captain, followed by Dane Vilas with 35 wins.