Ahead of the Chennai Super Kings’ crunch clash against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday at the Chepauk, CSK bowler Ravichandran Ashwin revealed the scenes in the dressing room from the previous Indian Premier League 2025 game when Mahendra Singh Dhoni had walked in to bat against the Mumbai Indians with the game on the line. Ashwin was padded up and ready to walk into bat if needed after Dhoni. At that stage CSK had needed just four runs to win when Ravindra Jadeja was dismissed after a run out involving Rachin Ravindra.
Dhoni walked out to bat in the 19th over to join Rachin Ravindra, leading to an explosion of noise at the Chepauk.
“When MS Dhoni came out to bat in Chennai, there was so much noise and chaos that we forgot the situation of the game only. MS Dhoni has earned the love. It was for the first time I was seeing that reception from the CSK dressing room; I always saw it from the outside,” Ashwin said while speaking on his YouTube channel Ash Ki Baat.
MS Dhoni of Chennai Super Kings during the Indian Premier League (IPL 2025) match against between Mumbai Indians. (Sportzpics for IPL)
Ashwin was talking about how the Chennai crowd is usually very quick to judge the pulse of the game and the match situation, but Dhoni’s arrival with the match on the line had temporarily blurred everything for everyone that day.
“I was padded up, I was the next batter. I went inside and asked Ruturaj how the wicket and all that because we still needed 4 runs, but everyone forgot that a match was on the line,” Ashwin said before calling the situation “absolute cinema”.
Dhoni ended up playing just two balls and scoring no runs with Rachin hitting a six in the final over and finishing off the game.
Chennai Super Kings are hosting RCB at the Chepauk today.