It was a meeting between the master and his student as MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant took centre-stage during toss, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium on Monday. The pair were smiling when they came face to face, and Murali Karthik, working for the broadcasters, exclaimed, “This Guru-Shishya saga continues!”
Then as they had to pose for a photograph together, Dhoni could be seen bumping his shoulder on Pant’s, and trying to push him, like what friends do as school children. In response, Pant could be seen beaming with a smile, and he hugged the CSK skipper.
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Full video of MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant's ‘Guru-Shishya’ moment:
Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl. After winning the toss, he said, “We are blessed, we get good support wherever we go. 'Thank you', to all the fans. We want to bowl first, there's chances of dew here. The wicket gets better in the second innings. It's important to set the right temperament. We haven't been consistent with our batting. With the ball we have to be strong. It's important to have a positive mindset, play those big shots. It's a matter of time. We have a couple of changes. Overton and Rasheed come in for Ashwin and Conway.”
{{/usCountry}}Dhoni won the toss and opted to bowl. After winning the toss, he said, “We are blessed, we get good support wherever we go. 'Thank you', to all the fans. We want to bowl first, there's chances of dew here. The wicket gets better in the second innings. It's important to set the right temperament. We haven't been consistent with our batting. With the ball we have to be strong. It's important to have a positive mindset, play those big shots. It's a matter of time. We have a couple of changes. Overton and Rasheed come in for Ashwin and Conway.”
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, Pant said, “It's just amazing. We would have bowled first. In Lucknow it's slower in the first innings, gets better gradually. The only thing we talked about CSK is that we don't want to give them an opening, just need to give our 100%. We want to go out there and play good cricket. Only one change - Marsh comes back in for Himmat Singh.”
Dhoni took over as CSK captain ahead of their previous fixture vs KKR, due to Ruturaj Gaikwad’s injury. The opener has been ruled out for the remaining games. Dhoni’s return to that role didn’t go according to plan as CSK lost by eight wickets and it included a massive batting collapse in the first innings, which saw them crumble for 103/9 in 20 overs.