Mahendra Singh Dhoni has a reputation for being a hard hitter. However, ahead of the season opener later today, there is still suspense on Dhoni’s fitness and whether he will play the game or not. However, former CSK and India veteran Robin Uthappawhile speaking on a special IPL show on Jio Cinema, narrated an interesting story involving CSK skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Dhoni broke this bowler’s two fingers
Uthappa recalled a story when Dhoni and he were teammates for India A back in 2003. The duo was practicing at the NCA when the incident happened. Dhoni was facing Sridhar Sriram in the nets and hit a shot straight toward him that broke two of his fingers .
“The first time I saw MS Dhoni was during an India A camp in 2003 at the NCA in Bengaluru. MS was batting in the middle of the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Munaf Patel, who at that point in time was quick with a slingy action. There were other fast bowlers like Aavishkar Salvi. And MS was hitting huge sixes. He brought out the helicopter shot. Some of the balls even landed outside the stadium.”, Uthappa narrated.
He further added, “In fact, he actually injured Sridharan Sriram. He stepped out and smashed it straight to the bowler. Sriram stuck his hand out and it hit him. We thought he was running after the ball but he crossed the ball and kept running towards the dressing room. He immediately knew that he had broken his hand. I think he ended up with two broken fingers. We all got an idea of how hard MS hits the ball. Then I knew that he would play for India.”
How Uthappa and Dhoni became friends!
Uthappa and Dhoni have played together for the Indian cricket team and the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, and Uthappa has often spoken highly of Dhoni’s leadership skills and cricketing acumen. Uthappa revealed that he became close friends with Dhoni during the early part of his care , and they would often spend time together discussing cricket and other topics.
“We became friends in 2004 but didn’t play together that much. I was still a U19 cricketer and MS was playing India A. I used to meet him here and there like the Challenger Series. My first international tour was in Abu Dhabi. We became very good friends there. After that, we spent a lot of time together in the West Indies.”, said Uthappa.
Robin Uthappa further explained how Dhoni and he bonded over the love for food and clothes. They used to hang out together after the games and do activities together. “We both were fond of clothes. We used to go shopping a lot. We used to eat together. We had a group. Suresh RainaIrfan Pathan, RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Munaf Patel, MS, and me. We used to order daal makhani, butter chicken, jeera aloo, and roti every day. MS is very rigid in terms of food. He used to have butter chicken without chicken and was satisfied with only the gravy. If he had chicken then he used to skip roti. He hasn’t changed one bit. He is still the same as when I met him for the first time. .”, he added.
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