MS Dhoni wins Player of the Match Award in IPL for the first time after 2019, equals Virat Kohli

Dhoni last won the honour in 2019 during CSK's match against Rajasthan Royals when he hit 75. This was Dhoni's 18th Player of the Match Award, which brings him level with Virat Kohli. Notably, the record for most Player of the Match Awards in the Indian cash-rich league belongs to AB de Villiers, who has won 25 such honours. Chris Gayle and Rohit Sharma are second and third, having won 22 and 19 POTM awards, respectively. Dhoni, Kohli and Warner are joint fourth with 18 such honours.

Most Player of the Match awards in IPL:

1 - AB de Villiers - 25

2 - Chris Gayle - 22

3 - Rohit Sharma - 19

4 - David Warner - 18

5 - Virat Kohli - 18

6 - MS Dhoni - 18

Coming to the match, Dhoni made an unbeaten 26 from 11 balls as he helped CSK chase down 167 with Shivam Dube also scoring 43 from 37 balls. Speaking after the match, Dhonui highlighted on the win, which is their second of the season.

It's good to win a game. When you play a tournament like this, you want to win games. Unfortunately the [earlier] matches didn't go our way for whatever reasons. There can be lots of reasons. It's good to have a win on our side. Gives confidence to the whole team and helps us improve in areas we want to improve," Dhoni said in the post-match presentation.

"We all knew that when it doesn't come your way in cricket, God makes it very tough, and it was a tough game. If you see the powerplay, whether it was the combination or the conditions, we were struggling with the ball. And then we weren't able to get the start we wanted as a batting unit. Also the fall of wickets. We keep losing wickets at the wrong time to some extent. One of the reasons could be that the Chennai wicket is slightly on the slower side.

"When we have played away from home, the batting unit has done slightly better. Maybe we need to play on wickets that are slightly better so that it'll give the batters confidence to play their shots. You don't want to play timid cricket. We were putting too much pressure on Ash. He was bowling two overs in the first six. We made changes and this looks like a better attack. As a bowling unit we've done well. As a batting unit, we can do better. Roles and responsibilities - that's what we talk about. If you get off to a good start, and you're someone who can play through the innings, then why not. I think he batted really well today. He has been with us for quite a few years (Shaik Rasheed). This year he has been batting really well in the nets against both pacers and spinners. It's just the start. He has the capability to dominate with authentic shots. Even today I was like - "why are they giving me the award?" Noor bowled really well," he added.