"Like every young Indian cricketer, I always wanted to be around MS Dhoni"

Ahead of the IPL 2025, Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson described how much he values spending time with former India and Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni.

Ahead of the IPL 2025, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson described how much he valued spending time with former Team India skipper MS Dhoni.

MS Dhoni will feature in the IPL 2025 for Chennai Super Kings in an attempt to secure his sixth title. Ruturaj Gaikwad-led CSK will start their IPL 2025 campaign against Mumbai Indians (MI).

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“Like every young Indian cricketer, I always wanted to be around MS Dhoni. Every time we played against CSK, I wanted to sit and talk to him, ask him how he does things. It was a dream for me. I remember playing a match against CSK in Sharjah, where I finally performed well, scored around 70-80 runs, won the game, and became the Man of the Match. After that, I met Mahi bhai, and since then, our relationship has grown. Even now, I meet him often. Just yesterday, I met him again. It`s truly a blessed feeling–to go from idolizing him to now sitting with him for shoots and events. I feel like I`m living my dream,” Samson said while speaking on JioHotstar as a part of the `SuperStar` programme.

Ahead of IPL 2025, MS Dhoni was retained as an uncapped player by CSK for Rs. 4 crore. IPL had introduced a new rule ahead of last year`s auction, allowing franchises to retain players in the uncapped category if they have not played international cricket for five years.

After his retirement from the international circuit, MS Dhoni has featured in only the IPL. In the 2024 edition, the right-hander garnered 161 runs with a strike rate of 220 and an average of 53.66. In 11 innings of the IPL 2024, Dhoni stayed unbeaten eight times.

Dhoni is the sixth-highest run-getter in IPL history, with 5.243 runs in 264 matches and 229 innings at an average of 39.12, a strike rate of 137.53 and 24 fifties. His best score is 84*. Other than CSK, he also played for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPG), a now-defunct franchise, from 2016-17.

(With ANI Inputs)