MS Dhoni's net sessions have a ban base of their own. Be it smoking the ball into the stands at Chepauk during Chennai Super Kings (CSK) training sessions or talking and guiding the youngsters, Dhoni's net session clips garner heaps of views all over social media.
In fact, and at times, his practice sessions can be amusing and interesting for his counterparts. Ask South Africa and Delhi Capitals bowler Anrich Nortje, who will definitely vouch for it. During a chat on the Grade Cricketer's YouTube channel, the Proteas speedster recalled a rather unique incident involving the former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Nortje threw it back to a time when he was called to the CSK camp as a teenager. Since he was young and from a different part of the world, he found himself among numerous Indian and international players. Nortje admitted that he did not know of most of the batsmen he bowled to. He further disclosed that it was only later he found that the batsman playing his shots was Dhoni.
"I remember bowling to MS in the nets there, didn't look like he wanted to be there, didn't look like he could bat, to be honest. But I didn't realize it was him. He was hitting a couple of balls almost standing still not using any feet as he does (chuckles). I actually think that everyone was trying to block everything... they were just trying to get his eye in at the start I think," Anrich Nortje told on the Grade Cricketer's YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}"I remember bowling to MS in the nets there, didn't look like he wanted to be there, didn't look like he could bat, to be honest. But I didn't realize it was him. He was hitting a couple of balls almost standing still not using any feet as he does (chuckles). I actually think that everyone was trying to block everything... they were just trying to get his eye in at the start I think," Anrich Nortje told on the Grade Cricketer's YouTube channel.
{{/usCountry}}The two players were last seen in action during IPL 2021. Before the tournament was suspended due to the Covid-19 crisis in India, Dhoni's CSK were second in the points table (five wins out of seven), while Nortje's Delhi Capitals (DC) were sitting pretty at the top with six wins out of eight.