Many Indian cricketers, including well-known figures like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, see MS Dhoni as a mentor, and they have all expressed gratitude for the advice he provided them in the early stages of their careers. Between 2007 and 2018, Dhoni led India as its captain for over 11 years. He has also led Chennai Super Kings as its captain since the league’s first season in 2008.
On top of that, the most successful team in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Chennai Super Kings (CSK), is renowned for its culture and capacity to bring out the best in its players. Since MS Dhoni and Stephen Fleming are known for making players comfortable in the roles they want them to play in before giving them a long run, many young stars have played for India following a time with CSK. As a result, they are not afraid of losing their place if one or two games don’t go well.
All-around fast bowler Deepak Chahar is one of the alumni of this CSK academy. Since the days of the Rising Pune Supergiants, Chahar has played with Dhoni and Fleming and has developed into a bowling all-rounder who provides much more than simply four overs in a T20 match. CSK pursued him and spent INR 14 crore in the major auction to keep him, demonstrating their commitment to and desperation for him.
MS Dhoni takes a hilarious dig on Deepak Chahar for his ‘drug-like’ influence
“Deepak Chahar is like a drug, if he is not there, you would think, where is he – if he is around, you would think, why he is here – good part is that he is maturing but he takes time and that is the problem, in my lifetime, I won’t see him matured (smiles),” Dhoni said on the sidelines of the trailer and audio launch of his production company Dhoni Entertainment’s maiden film ‘Let’s Get Married’.
Chahar and Dhoni have a unique bond because they have been together for a while. While Chahar never misses an opportunity to tease Dhoni and has tried to annoy him in amusing ways on numerous occasions because he is not particularly social media friendly, the captain also never misses an opportunity to poke fun at or troll the pacer whenever he gets the chance.
IPL 2023 served as yet another reminder of this, with Dhoni scaring Chahar away with his shadow batting in the dugout, pretending to hit him during practice, or best of all, refusing to sign his jersey after CSK won the title because he dropped a catch. The two had a number of hilarious moments together, and now that they were sharing more about their relationship, the CSK captain decided to troll him once more.
Chahar pointed out another classic example of MS Dhoni’s leadership qualities
Deepak Chahar played an integral role in CSK winning their fifth IPL title this year. He recently gave an example of how Dhoni works with his bowlers. “I was bowling in the death overs for the very first time. They never made me bowl in the death because it was not needed. There were bowlers like Shardul and Bravo to bowl the death overs. Now Bravo got injured. It was a critical match,” said Chahar in a recent episode of Breakfast with Champions.
Chahar said that he ended up bowling two beamers on the trot and was reprimanded by Dhoni. “He (Dhoni) came to me and said ‘you act smart as if you know everything. Why are you bowling in this manner?’ I was thinking that my career was over. Then I gave 5 runs off the next 5 balls and after the match he hugged me,” the pacer said.
Needless to say, Dhoni’s cheerful demeanour with his teammates outside the playing arena and his father-like reprimanding inside the field makes him great leader and a class apart.
Moreover, despite paying such a huge sum, CSK are likely to retain Deepak Chahar for IPL 2024 and with MS Dhoni set to play for one last time, the fans will get to see the banter between the duo yet again.
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