Mahendra Singh Dhoni, lovingly called Thala by the Chennai Super Kings fans, welcomed Chinna Thala Suresh Raina and several other teammates on Tuesday (March 2, 2020) in Chennai for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. A video tweeted by Chennai Super Kings showed Dhoni meeting and greeting his teammates including Suresh Raina who also planted a kiss on the former's neck. Thala in Tamil means leader or captain while Chinna Thala is the deputy or the right-hand man of the captain.
The 24-second video, which was posted by Chennai Super Kings on its official Twitter handle, was captioned "Me3t and Gree7 - Every day is Karthigai in our House, a film by Vikraman Sir" with the hashtag "#StartTheWhistles". It shows Raina walking in to see photos of the Chennai Super Kings team after which he goes on to give a warm hug to Dhoni who pats him thrice after which the former kisses his captain.
The video soon went viral with CSK fans going berserk. Many CSK fans commented on the reunion and hoped that the duo will ensure more IPL triumphs for the Chennai-based franchise.
Me3t and Gree7 - Everyday is Karthigai in our House, a film by Vikraman Sir. #StartTheWhistlespic.twitter.com/sJz77Nnakr
— Chennai Super Kings (@ChennaiIPL) March 3, 2020
Dhoni, who has led CSK to three IPL triumphs in 2010, 2011 and 2018, is a cult figure in Chennai and Raina, too, is a revered by the fans.
Dhoni reached Chennai on Monday (March 2) to prepare for IPL 2020 starting March 29. Several players of Chennai Super Kings have reached Tamil Nadu's capital to begin their practice for IPL 2020.
IPL is the first competitive cricket for the 38-year-old Dhoni who last played for India in the ICC One-Day World Cup semifinal loss to New Zealand by 18 runs at Old Trafford in Manchester on July 9, 2019. His performance in IPL will be keenly watched as the T20 World Cup is scheduled in Australian in October-November 2020.
Complete list of Chennai Super Kings squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Shardul Thakur, KM Asif, Deepak Chahar, Imran Tahir, Karn Sharma, Harbhajan Singh, N Jagadeesan, Monu Kumar, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Lungi Ngidi, Kedar Jadhav, Dwayne Bravo, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Murali Vijay, Faf du Plessis, Suresh Raina, Ambati Rayudu, Shane Watson, Sam Curran, Piyush Chawla, Josh Hazlewood and R Sai Kishore.
