‘Happy Birthday, Mahi’: Dhoni receives special video call from Zimbabwe

Former India captain and Chennai Super Kings batsman MS Dhoni turned 43 on Sunday. Dhoni celebrated the special occasion by cutting a cake with his wife Sakshi, Bollywood actor Salman Khan and a few close friends. Dhoni is currently in Mumbai for the pre-wedding celebrations of Anant Ambani and Radhika Merchant.

While Dhoni cut the cake with his friends, family and Salman Khan, he later received a surprise call from none other than CSK skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was joined by Tushar Deshpande and Mukesh Kumar. Notably, Ruturaj, Tushar and Mukesh are currently in Zimbabwe for the 5-match T20I series, but made time for his mentor.

Dhoni and Ruturaj have shared a special bond over the years, with the former giving the young batsman a chance in the 2020 IPL and later handing over the captaincy of CSK to Ruturaj in the IPL 2024 season.

In an earlier interaction with The Times of India, Ruturaj had talked about the things he learned from MS Dhoni. He said, “Being neutral is something that I have learnt from Mahi bhai. Not getting too excited about anything or being down by anything is the right approach that I have picked up,”

Ruturaj is likely to feature in the second T20 international against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club today. However, the CSK captain’s position in the series will be slightly different as he will be batting at No 3 instead of his usual opening role.

The Men in Blue suffered a shock defeat at the hands of the minnows in the first match of the series on Saturday. Hosts Zimbabwe batted first in Harare and posted 115/9 in their 20 overs. In reply, the Men in Blue were found wanting and only 3 Indian players (Shubman Gill, Avesh Khan and Washington Sundar) managed to reach double figures.