The Qualifier 1 match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will be clash between friends, mentor and protégé as defending champions Gujarat Titans will go up against four-time winners Chennai Super Kings at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Tuesday. GT captain Hardik Pandya will once against go up against friend and mentor MS Dhoni hoping to continue his winning run against CSK.
Pandya revealed his personal equation with MS Dhoni ahead of the IPL 2023 Qualifier 1. “A lot of people think that Mahi is serious and all that. For me, I crack jokes with him and don’t see him as Mahendra Singh Dhoni,” Hardik Pandya said in a video posted by Gujarat Titans.
WATCH Hardik Pandya speak about his equation with MS Dhoni HERE…
Captain. Leader. Legend.@msdhoni is an emotion _ Here's a special tribute from @hardikpandya7 to the one and only Thala ahead of a special matchday in Chennai! _#GTvCSK | #PhariAavaDe | #TATAIPL Playoffs 2023 pic.twitter.com/xkrJETARbJ
— Gujarat Titans (@gujarat_titans) May 23, 2023
GT skipper said that he had learn a lot of things from his ‘dear friend and brother’ MS Dhoni. “Obviously, I have learned a lot of things from him – lot of positive things which I’ve learned from him just while watching, not even much talking. But for me, he’s just my dear friend, dear brother, who I do pranks, who I chill with,” Pandya said.
“I will always be a Mahendra Singh Dhoni fan and for so many fans out there and so many cricket lovers, you need to be a proper devil to hate Mahendra Singh Dhoni,” he added.
Meanwhile, CSK all-rounder Moeen Ali revealed what separates MS Dhoni from rest of the captains in the IPL.
“What separates MS from everybody else as captain in many ways is that, say guys have a couple of bad games, especially in the first couple of games, and I think every other team would drop the player or say ‘look you are probably not good enough right now’,” Moeen said in a video posted by CSK.
“And that’s where MS sees things and coaches see things in players. They see the potential and give them chances. Most teams don’t do that. Most teams don’t stick with the players long,” he added.
