Imran Tahir, the South Africa leg-spinner, has revealed he was “nervous” right before his first meeting with MS Dhoni, recalling how he was amazed when the Indian wicketkeeper himself walked up to his room to welcome the spinner.

Tahir, who made his IPL debut in 2014, had a one-on-one encounter for the first time with MS Dhoni ahead of IPL 2017, when he was picked to play for Rising Pune Supergiant, the team Dhoni had captained in the previous season.

“I had been watching him on TV, but I never met in person,” Tahir said on the Facebook Live session, Cricket Unplugged with Anis Sajan. “I first met him when I got picked for Pune and actually I was quite nervous, I didn’t know how to react.”

“But I was amazed that I was outside my room door and he came to me from his room and said: ‘Imran bhai, welcome. This is my room, we sit here, you are more than welcome. You can come anytime’. It was one of the best things to hear probably from a legend like Dhoni.

“I was like ‘If you are offering me that, I am definitely coming to your room to visit! Because, I want to be in your company and learn about cricket and how you achieve all these things, and I did that ‘. That was very kind of him. That was the first time I met him personally.

Tahir, who picked up 18 wickets in 12 games that season, went on to extend his association with the Indian wicketkeeper, joining the Chennai Super Kings next year and has been part of the squad since. He was the leading wicket-taker in the 2019 edition, returning with 26 scalps from 17 games while maintaining an excellent economy of 6.69.

“We used to go to his room, we still go because he gets mangoes coming in from all over the world. We love to eat that. All of us.

“Anything comes to his room, he offers to everybody and we go and eat. It’s been a special journey with him. I really hope I get a chance to spend another year, or 2, or 3 years to play with him and make my journey more special.”