Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain MS Dhoni has received unconditional love from Chennai throughout his cricket career. He opened up on his connection with the city even before playing for CSK in IPL's inaugural season during an event in Chennai.
Dhoni, who made his Test debut for India in Chennai, had no idea he will be picked by CSK in the IPL. It was only after his association with CSK he got to know the culture of the city.
"The association started in 2008 when it comes to IPL, but it started before that when it came to play some of the other formats," Dhoni said. "One of the most memorable being my Test debut, you know, which happened is in Chennai. I think I never knew that I'll be picked by CSK, I was in the auction and I got picked and it gave me an opportunity to understand the culture, which was very different from where I actually came from," he added.
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The CSK skipper further said that Chennai taught him to appreciate the game. He liked how the local fans always supported good cricket irrespective of the team.
"And what made it even more different was I'm like a wanderer. My parents came from Uttar Pradesh. It was initially UP, then it became Uttarakhand. I was born in Ranchi which was Bihar. Then later on became Jharkhand. I got my job at the age of 18, with railways in West Bengal, you know, Kharagpur and then I came to Chennai and I believe Chennai taught me a lot. Tamil Nadu taught me a lot when it came to how to conduct myself, how to appreciate the game. Each and every game that we played at Chepauk the fans came and supported good cricket," he said.
The event was organized to celebrate CSK's fourth IPL title win. Apart from Dhoni, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, and India Cements' vice-chairman N Srinivasan were also present at Kalaivanar Arangam in Chennai.
CSK suffered a setback in the IPL 2020 when they failed to qualify for the playoffs. It was the first time they couldn't make it to the top four and the franchise had a lot of pressure on them to make a strong comeback in the next season.
The Dhoni-led team made a few changes in the squad ahead of the tournament and ended up winning the title in UAE. "We had a very good run when it came to franchise cricket but it became interesting in 2020. That was the first season where we didn't qualify to the next stage of IPL.
"It gave us a chance to test the real character of the franchise because when the going is good, you always keep talking about what you do, what is the process that you follow, but it gave us an opportunity to earn the respect of the players and the fans, you know because we said we believe in the process, we don't believe in the result.
"And the result definitely didn't go in our favor in 2020 and I feel we earned the respect of the men because they said this is what they do. They walk the talk and that's one of the main reasons why I believe we could come back strongly and we were able to win that title," Dhoni said in the event.
(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)
