Former India skipper MS Dhoni enjoys a massive fan following across the world. While Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020, he continues to feature in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Ahead of the IPL 2024, Dhoni stepped down as CSK captain and handed over the leadership baton to Ruturaj Gaikwad. Hence, speculations are rife that the ongoing IPL season could well be last for the 42-year-old.
No wonder, the crowd cheers for Dhoni and makes deafening noise whenever he takes the field. Besides the fans, the former CSK captain is also garnering words of praise from his teammates, opposition players, commentators and cricket experts.
On Sunday (April 14), Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper Hardik Pandya showed his love and respect towards MS Dhoni ahead of the match against CSK at the Wankhede Stadium.
In a video going viral on social media, Hardik can be seen leaving his warm-up session and running all over to hug Dhoni, who was entering the middle to join his teammates. The duo shared a warm hug as the fans inside the stadium cheered loudly after witnessing the wholesome moment.
Here’s the video:
In the all-important fixture, Hardik Pandya won the toss and elected to bowl first. The MI skipper stated that dew was the key reason behind his decision to chase and they also opted to go with the same team from the last match.
"We would like to bowl first, dew will come into play. It (pitch) looks better than the last game, expecting a lot of runs. Need to stick to the basics. Winning is very important to get the momentum. We were able to win two games convincingly. That's the beauty about IPL, everyone has to contribute. Your team will be able to achieve goals eventually. The dew started coming post 10 overs (in the last game.) It gets heavier in the evening. Same team," Hardik said at the toss.
Mumbai Indians (Playing XI): Rohit Sharma, Ishan Kishan(w), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya(c), Tim David, Mohammad Nabi, Romario Shepherd, Shreyas Gopal, Gerald Coetzee, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Madhwal
Chennai Super Kings (Playing XI): Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman
