MS Dhoni hadn’t exactly skidded his way through the 2019 World Cup. In fact, he averaged 45.50 across eight innings, all told. The thing was his strike rate. Dhoni, perhaps the greatest finisher limited-overs cricket had ever seen, was going at way less than a run a ball in a tournament. It wasn’t awful. It just wasn’t that good. Detractors thought he was past it and should give up his spot. Hardcore supporters said: “Wait. India are in the semi-final, aren’t they? Watch his master plan.”

At Old Trafford, New Zealand’s quicks had swung their way through the India top order that had made the majority of the team’s runs. They had nicked off Rohit Sharma (648 runs in the World Cup), trapped Virat Kohli (443 runs), and then had KL Rahul (361 runs) caught behind, all in the space of four overs.

India recovered through Rishabh Pant and Hardik Pandya, but mainly through Ravindra Jadeja, who struck 77 off 59 balls. But when Jadeja got out in the 48th over, it was down to Dhoni again. Dhoni retained the strike at the end of that over, and India needed 31 off 12 balls, with three wickets in hand. This was the moment where we would learn whether this Dhoni was still that Dhoni.

The events of the first ball of the next over, bowled by Lockie Ferguson, suggested we were in for another Dhoni special. Short, and too wide outside off, Dhoni leapt off his feet and ka-blammed it over the deep backward point boundary. Even if he wasn’t the Dhoni of yore, the sixes could still come streaming off his bat.

He’s taking it down to the last over again. Just him and the bowler. One last box-office climax.

And then, Martin Guptill, who had mostly skidded through the tournament with the bat, spotted a ball coming towards him at deep backward square leg, closed the distance quickly, swooped on the ball, and with little more than one stump to aim at, sent a laser-guided rocket throw at it.

Dhoni was 15 centimetres short. We never got to find out how many last-over sixes he still had left in him.