It seems that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has regained his form and the hunk is back to his best. In his unbeaten innings of 139 runs off mere 97 balls, he butchered the inexperienced Asian XI bowling attack. The 25 year-old smashed 15 boundaries and five mighty sixes.
He joined skipper Mahela Jayawardene at the crease when the Asia XI was reeling at 72 for five in 16.4 overs. And the duo added 218 runs within no time. Jayawardene continued his good run with the bat and scored another century, he collected 107 runs before getting out to Morkel. But it didn’t dent Dhoni’s confidence at all as he continued to find the fence and Asia XI finished at whopping 331 runs.
Chasing the target, AB de villiers and Sibanda got off to a blistering start as both accumulated 117 runs in 18 overs for the opening wicket.
But with the introduction of slow bowlers, things changed drastically and African XI were reduced to 159/5. Justine Kemp tried hard to emulate Jayawardene and added quickfire 122 runs with last match centurion Shaun Pollock, but once he played the wrong line to Rafique the African XI’s hopes were vanished and they fell short by 13 runs. Mohd Rafique and Harbhajan Singh finished with four and three scalps each respectively.
Dhoni was adjudged the Man of the Match - while Jayawardene bagged the Man of the Series award.
