Channelling the buccaneer

rfan Pathan had bowled the last six deliveries against Chennai at the MA Chidambaram as well, and he had kept them down to nine runs to push that match into a Superover. This time, though, he didn't have a tailender like R Ashwin to bowl to; it was a Dhoni channelling the buccaneer spirit with which he made his name. The first delivery was almost a yorker, but Dhoni managed to power it past long-off for four. The next was a slower one that he top-edged, but it landed short of long-off and Chennai were two runs closer. The match was effectively sealed off the third delivery: a monstrous hit over wide long-on sent the ball out of the ground, reducing the equation to four off three. Dhoni finished it off with another thrash over long-on, and the famously cool captain let out a roar and then punched the side of the helmet as the adrenaline flowed and his team-mates raced out from the dug-out in joy.

Please explain to me the emboldened parts.

Though I know "buccaneer" means "a pirate"