Tahir met Dhoni for the first time during his RPS stint in IPL 2017.
Veteran South Africa spinner Imran Tahir has recently opened up about the experience of his first interaction with legendary MS Dhoni as well as recalled how he was nervous during their first meeting.
Tahir, who is famous for his celebrations, the energy and the charisma he brings on the field, is one of the most celebrated cricketers in the world cricket who plays franchise cricket across the globe.
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He also has a huge fan following in India, thanks to his Indian Premier League stints. The spinner has played most of his IPL career under Dhoni but got to play with the iconic cricketer for the first time when the Proteas star was picked by Rising Pune Supergiant in 2017.
In an interview with Crictracker, Tahir said he had seen Dhoni for several years on television but had never met him personally before the IPL 2017 stint with the RPS and he was quite nervous and didn’t know how to react when he first met the former India captain 3 years ago.
The leg-spinner, who now plays for Chennai Super Kings, also revealed that he was pleasantly surprised when the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman himself came to his room and welcomed him in the IPL team.
Tahir said: “I had been watching him on TV. But I never met in person. I first met him when I got picked for Pune and I was quite nervous, I didn’t know how to react. But I was amazed, I was outside my room door and he came to me from his room and said: ‘Imran Bhai, welcome.”
He further added, “This is my room and you are more than welcome anytime. This is probably the best thing to hear from a legend like Dhoni. As I said, it was very kind of him. He is such a down to earth guy. I thought ‘If you are offering me that, I am coming to your room’. That was very kind of him. As I said, that was the first time I met him personally.”
The 41-year-old spinner also revealed Dhoni’s love for mangoes which he brings for his teammates from all around the world. He concluded, “We used to go to his room, we still go because he gets mangoes coming in from all over the world. We love to eat that. All of us.”
Noteworthy, Tahir has now become a key member of the CSK set-up in the IPL having featured since 2018 and last year, he won the purple cap for his 26 wickets. He will be next seen in action for the CSK led by Dhoni in the IPL 2020 later this year in the UAE.
(With Crictracker Inputs)