Chennai, March 14: Former India cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni is back in Chennai and started his preparations for the upcoming Indian Premier League 2021, starting April 9.
MS Dhoni has hit the nets at MA Chidambaram Stadium to get in the grooves for his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings in the fourteenth edition of the domestic T20 league. Alongside his training session, the 39-year-old cricketer has also started shooting for the ad campaigns ahead of the IPL season and a picture of the legendary India captain is going viral on social media.
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Star Sports, the official broadcasters of IPL 2021, took to its Twitter handle to post an image of the legendary wicketkeeper-batsman with a clean shaved head and donning the get-up of a monk.
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Dhoni - who has been always popular for his looks and hairstyles throughout his cricketing career - has left the fans stunned with his clean-shaven avatar.
On Saturday, Star Sports along with some 'mouth open smilies' tweeted the image and captioned it: "Our faces since we saw #MSDhoni's new avatar that could just break the Internet! Speak-no-evil monkeyWhat do you think is it about?"
😮😮😮 - our faces since we saw #MSDhoni's new avatar that could just break the Internet! 🙊What do you think is it about? pic.twitter.com/Mx27w3uqQh
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 13, 2021
Later, the official broadcasters also shared a small video clip of Dhoni in the monk's look and sharing some mantras.
Mantra… avatar… we are as 🤯 as you are right now!
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 14, 2021
Give us your best guess as to what this mantra is that he's talking about and keep watching this space for the reveal. 😎 pic.twitter.com/km9AQ93Dek
The Super Kings suffered a major ignominy in the IPL 2020 when they were ousted in the league stage itself. It was a first in their history for the team led by Dhoni. Now the redoubtable three-time champions will be eager to get back to the winning ways and regain their glory in the IPL 2021. After the IPL Governing Council announced the schedule for the IPL 2021, the CSK players started assembling in Chennai to prepare for the upcoming edition. The CSK will face last year's finalists Delhi Capitals in Mumbai on April 10.
Meanwhile, Australian journalist Chloe Amanda Bailey took a subtle dig at the Indian Cricket Team ahead of the second match against England later in the day by using Dhoni's image in the monk avatar.
This is what she tweeted:
Me patiently waiting to see India's playing XI for tonight's #INDvENG T20I. pic.twitter.com/L5RYc6zpYC
— Chloe-Amanda Bailey (@ChloeAmandaB) March 14, 2021
The look also triggered a meme fest on Twitter and fans are coming up with hilarious memes as Dhoni could be seen taking some 'spiritual shelter'.
After Match Dhoni Telling tips & tricks to youngsters :#Dhoni #Monk pic.twitter.com/DTBUnMA6gl
— MunNaa 🐾 (@Munnaa09) March 14, 2021
Bodhi Dhoni
— rajesh (@virus_rajesh) March 14, 2021
Dhoni after meeting with Modiji pic.twitter.com/AHMeSXcxhq
— Anshika Jaiswal😾 (@anshikaa__) March 14, 2021
In 2010 we saw aggresive dhoni
— Ash💛 (@Mahilover184) March 14, 2021
In 2018 we saw cool dhoni
Any difference
Definitely not
Both years we ended up with the cup
So we only want dhoni neither cool dhoni❄️nor aggressive dhoni🔥
God 💛 pic.twitter.com/KJMoSvKEXd
— 'Definitely Not'💛 (@DefinitelyNot07) March 14, 2021
Parents se padhai aur phone ke upar 1 ghanta lecture sunne ke baad aap: pic.twitter.com/Bz0xgCICHa
— Slightly Grumpy 😤 (@roooossshhiiiii) March 14, 2021