Bangalore: Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not only a lucky leader but also a big match player which he has proved umpteen numbers of times. And after having a quiet IPL-5 throughout the league stage, the Chennai Super Kings skipper rose to the occasion in the IPL eliminator against the Mumbai Indians and scored a brilliant 51 off 21 balls and helped Chennai set a daunting target of 188 runs for the rivals at the Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Wednesday.

Having called it right with the coin, Harbhajan Singh put Chennai to bat and his decision proved to be right on the target when they knocked off Murali Vijay and Suresh Raina with hardly any score by the end of second over.

But soon S Badrinath joined Mike Hussey and they together started the CSK resurrection adding 94 runs for the third wicket until Badrinath fell off to Kieron Pollard. Hussey and Ravindra Jadeja followed suit and when it looked as of Chennai would succumb to the pressure and cave in to the Mumbai bowler’s might, MS found his form and in the company of Dwayne Bravo flourished like his imperious self.

Dhoni started the onslaught and Bravo followed his captain. The duo ripped apart the Mumbai bowlers and Chennai added 77 runs in the last 4.5 overs. Bravo too finished his innings at 33 off 14 balls.