[WATCH] MS Dhoni in full flow with the willow during CSK’s practice session
Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni looked in ominous touch with the bat in a video shared on the franchise’s official social media handles on Friday.
CSK won the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 title under the 40-year-old's leadership in the UAE last year. However, the veteran wicketkeeper-batter did not have a great time with the willow. He managed only 114 runs at an average of 16.28. He did play a crucial cameo of 18* off just six balls against Delhi Capitals (DC) in Qualifier 1 to put his team in the final.
In the clip shared on Chennai Super Kings’ social media handles, Dhoni is seen bringing out his vast repertoire of strokes, from ferocious pulls and cuts to his famed helicopter shot.
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The CSK players have been training in Surat for the past few days in the build-up to the IPL 2022 season. The franchise has been sharing regular updates of the team’s practice sessions through pictures and videos on their official social media handles.
CSK will begin their IPL 2022 campaign by taking on last year's runners-up Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the season opener at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on March 26.
MS Dhoni recently revealed why he wears jersey No.7
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Over the years, there has been a lot of fascination over Dhoni’s iconic jersey No.7. Many claimed that 7 is the Indian legend’s lucky number. However, the man himself opened up on why he prefers the number.
Speaking at a virtual interaction organized by India Cements, the 40-year-old said:
"A lot of people initially thought that 7 is a lucky number for me and all of that. But I chose the number for a very simple reason. I was born on the 7th of July. So it's the 7th day of the 7th month, that was the reason."
The former India captain added that he has been told by many people that 7 is a neutral number. Dhoni elaborated:
"Rather than getting to all the different things as to what number is a good number and all, I thought I will use my date of birth as the number. Then whenever people kept asking me, I kept adding to the answer. 81 was the year, 8-1 is again 7, 7 is a very neutral number. People actually kept telling me, I started absorbing it and I started telling it to others in the same way."
The CSK skipper has a formidable IPL record, having amassed 4746 runs from 220 matches at a strike rate of 135.83.