Veteran Indian cricketer Robin Uthappa recalled his meeting with the legendary MS Dhoni when he joined the CSK franchise in the IPL 2021 and he was just impressed with the former Indian skipper’s humble nature.
Notably, Uthappa played for Team India under the captaincy of charismatic leader Dhoni and even won the 2007 T20 World Cup with him. The senior batter was part of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL for the past two seasons after getting traded by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2021.
In his initial days in the CSK camp, Uthappa found it tough to figure out how he should call out his skipper, Dhoni, as most of the people were calling him either ‘Mahi Bhai or ‘Mahi sir’.
Sharing the same story with his fans in ShareChat’s Audio Chatroom session - 'CricChat Powered by Parimatch’, Robin Uthappa recalled: “When I was selected for CSK, I was playing with Mahi after 13-14 years. When I went to the team, everybody was referring to him as Mahi Bhai or Mahi Sir.”
He added, “I got a bit confused. One day, I went to him and asked whether I should call him Mahi or Mahi Bhai. He told me not to complicate things and call me whatever I want to. He told me that he was the same person and that nothing had changed. I was the only person in the team who was calling him Mahi.”
Speaking about his bond with Dhoni off the field, Uthappa said: “Our relationship is like that. It’s not just related to cricket. We have played cricket together, but we share a lot of love off the field as well.”
He concluded, “When Trinity was born, I sent her pic to Mahi and he said, “she looks like you”. Ours is a relationship that goes beyond cricket. Today also, we sit together and chill, as we used to 13-14 years ago.”
