"Whenever Dhoni bhai comes up with some advice, he has some excuse"- Ambati Rayudu on MS Dhoni & Deepak Chahar's bond
Former India and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter Ambati Rayudu has shared the dressing room with Deepak Chahar and MS Dhoni and has seen their friendship from close quarters.
There have been a lot of instances where Dhoni has pulled Chahar's leg before or after IPL games, with some of those videos going viral on social media. Rayudu opened up on just how hilarious some of the exchanges are between the duo.
Speaking in an interview on Behindwoods TV, here's what Ambati Rayudu had to say about MS Dhoni and Deepak Chahar:
"The thing with Deepak is he thinks he knows it all (laughs). So whenever Dhoni bhai comes up with some advice, he has some excuse or some different theory to it. But at the end of the day, he is a brilliant cricketer and a good person at heart and they (Deepak and Dhoni) have that camaraderie which is nice like an elder and a younger brother."
Rayudu himself agreed that sometimes in the heat of the moment, he used to react to umpiring decisions, leading to the deduction of points in the Fair Play awards table. On this, he added:
"Me and Watson had the habit of reacting whenever the umpire didn't give a wide or when there were too many bouncers bowled. So that time in the heat of the moment it is difficult to control your emotions and so some points get deducted. Dhoni bhai realized that till we are in the team, he won't get the Fair Play award (laughs)."
Ambati Rayudu has been great friends with former CSK and West Indies legend Dwayne Bravo. Here's what he said on their friendship:
"He (Bravo) irritates me a lot. He thinks if he speaks something negative it will bring out the best in me. But sometimes I just tell him to shut up (laughs). We are very good friends."
Ambati Rayudu on MS Dhoni's argument with umpires in Jaipur
While MS Dhoni has been successful in controlling his emotions on the field for a large part of his career, there was a moment when even he lost his cool back in IPL 2019.
During a game between Chennai and the Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur, Dhoni walked onto the field and had a long conversation with on-field umpires on a waist-height no-ball call that they had revoked.
While many felt MS Dhoni had no right to walk onto the field like that, Ambati Rayudu explained why the CSK skipper wasn't wrong. He stated:
"That only shows his passion for CSK. He is human too. Everyone loves him for his calm demeanor. But sometimes such situations happen. It's not wrong to have a discussion with the umpires. Although their decision is final, he just asked them, which is absolutely fine. He is entitled as a captain to have a conversation with the umpire."
Dhoni equaled Rohit Sharma's record of five IPL titles as a captain in 2023, making CSK the joint-most successful team in the history of the tournament in terms of titles won with the Mumbai Indians.