Imran bhai, you are welcome in my room anytime: When Tahir met MS Dhoni for the first time

NEW DELHI: Is there a better sight than seeing Imran Tahir celebrate a wicket? The bowler gives the biggest smile, and runs nearly full-length of the stadium to celebrate a dismissal. Be it for South Africa or a domestic team, or in any T20 leagues, Tahir’s celebrations remains the same.

This was one of the major reasons why the South Africa spinner gained massive popularity among Chennai Super Kings fans while playing for the franchise in IPL last year. The right-arm leggie, who himself is a veteran of the game, was seen often seen discussing tactics with CSK skipper MS Dhoni, and picked up big wickets in crucial moments of the match.

In a recent interaction, Tahir recalled the first time he met Dhoni during IPL 2017. At the time, CSK was going through a two-year suspension, and Dhoni was leading Rising Pune Supergiant. Tahir had gone unsold at the auction, but after Mitchell Marsh picked an injury, RPS replaced him with the Proteas spinner.

Tahir, speaking to Anis Sajan on in a Facebook Live session chat show ‘Cricket Unplugged’, recalled the moment when Dhoni invited him to his room. “I had been watching him (Dhoni) on TV. But I never met in person. I first met him when I got picked for Pune and actually I was quite nervous, I didn’t know how to react,” Tahir said.

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“But I was amazed, I was outside my room door and he came to me from his room and said: ‘Imran bhai, welcome. This is my room and you are more than welcome anytime,” he added.

“This is probably the best thing to hear from a legend like Dhoni. Like I said, it was very kind of him. He is such a down to earth guy. I thought ‘If you are offering me that, I am definitely coming to your room’. That was very kind of him,” Tahir said.

The bowler further revealed that Dhoni would bring mangoes for the CSK team. “Like I said, that was the first time I met him personally. 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.”

Tahir has so far played 55 IPL matches in which he has picked up 79 wickets atn average of 20.39 and an economy rate of 7.88. [Hindustan Times]