MS Dhoni Is ‘My Guru’, Says THIS Indian Pacer On Former Skipper

Despite his retirement in 2020, MS Dhoni continues to inspire cricketers like Khaleel Ahmed, who shared his admiration for Dhoni's mentorship, while CSK's CEO denies reports of seeking to retain Dhoni at a lower price under a scrapped IPL rule.

Written by: Jeet Banerjee Edited by: Jeet Banerjee

Updated: August 19, 2024, 2:26 PM IST

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https://www.india.com/sports/ms-dhoni-is-my-guru-says-this-indian-pacer-on-former-skipper-7177100/ Copy

MS Dhoni

New Delhi: Even after his retirement from international cricket in 2020, MS Dhoni remained an inspiration to many cricketers. MS Dhoni played his last cricket in IPL 2024, and there is still speculation regarding the future of this legendary player. It has been often said that teammates praise Dhoni for his immaculate sense of the game; actually, this instinctive ability from behind the stumps on guiding and strategizing contributed a lot toward many successes of his team.

Left-arm pacer Khaleel Ahmed, who has represented the national team in 11 ODIs and 18 T20Is, is also an MS Dhoni fanboy. In a recent interview with former India opener Aakash Chopra, Khaleel was shown a photo of Dhoni handing him a bouquet of flowers. Chopra then asked Khaleel to share the story behind that moment.

“This photo was taken in New Zealand. We were going to the practice ground from the main ground. Mahi bhai was given flowers by his friends. I was walking with him. He passed me the flowers. Mahi bhai is not my friend, not my elder brother, he is my guru,” Khaleel said on Chopra’s YouTube channel.

“Since my childhood, I wanted to become the bowler who took the first over from India since I had watched Zaheer Khan growing up. In the Asia Cup, Mahi bhai, asked me to bowl the first over. I ran so hard, away from the huddle thinking that if I give it time he might change his mind. I think the most important player of a team gets to bowl the first.

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) CEO Kasi Viswanath has dismissed reports suggesting that the franchise requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to reinstate a now-defunct rule to bring MS Dhoni back at a lower price. The rule, which allowed international players to be classified as ‘uncapped’ after five years of retirement, was abolished after IPL 2021. Speculation arose that CSK wanted the rule reinstated to retain Dhoni as an ‘uncapped’ player for as low as Rs 4 crore, compared to the Rs 12 crore he was retained for in 2022. However, Viswanath has denied that CSK made any such request.