Playing their third home game of the season, Chennai Super Kings restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 137-9, thanks largely to Ravindra Jadeja and Tushar Deshpande’s three-fors. Shreyas Iyer was the top-scorer for KKR with 34 from 32 balls.

Rachin Ravindra started the run-chase off aggressively, before he was dismissed by Vaibhav Arora. Ruturaj Gaikwad then held the innings together as Daryl Mitchell and Shivam Dube played cameos from Nos.3 and 4 respectively.

With three runs to win, Dube was bowled by Arora, leading to growing anticipation among the crowd of MS Dhoni’s arrival to the crease. However, they looked set to be in for disappointment when Ravindra Jadeja started walking out of the dressing room, only for him to turn his back after three steps. Dhoni eventually came out to a rousing reception.

[breakout id=”0″][/breakout]

In a post-match interview, Deshpande revealed that it had been Dhoni’s idea to ask Jadeja to tease the fans before he would eventually walk out to bat.

This was the first time that Dhoni was batting at Chepauk this season after he was not required to come out in the first two games of IPL 2024 that CSK played here. That made it all the more special for fans as they roared at the top of their voices.

In a viral clip, Andre Russell, fielding on the boundary, was seen closing his ears to shield himself from the noise of the crowd.

Dhoni eventually finished unbeaten on one off three as CSK won by seven wickets and 14 balls to spare.

Watch Jadeja tease fans before Dhoni walks out to bat:

Jaddu's cute tease and Thala's fan-service entry! What an explosive experience 😭💛 This is what we're here for 💥💛#Thala #Dhoni #MSDhoni #CSK #CSKvKKR pic.twitter.com/lUiOMyMJfV

— Anirudh (@anirudhsriraman) April 8, 2024