Former India skipper MS Dhoni lives a private life in Ranchi and stays away from the limelight. The Indian legend doesn’t use social media and the fans have to wait for other popular social media accounts to get a glimpse of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper. There are only a few players who can contact Dhoni when he is away from the game and one of them is Hardik Pandya.
The Indian all-rounder has been spotted with Dhoni a couple of times off the field and in 2020, the all-rounder had surprised his former captain by paying a visit to his home on his 39th birthday. Their strong bond can be adjudged by the fact that in 2019, Dhoni had even given up his bed for Pandya in New Zealand. Three years back, Pandya had a delayed arrival in NZ and there was no room available for him. Dhoni stepped up and came to the all-rounder’s aid.
The story was revealed by Pandya during an interview with ESPNcricinfo. During the conversation, Pandya had also revealed that Dhoni doesn’t sleep on a bed.
“MS was someone who understood me from the start: how I function, what kind of a person I am, what are the things I don’t like, everything. When I was picked for the New Zealand series [in January 2019, after the suspension was revoked], initially there were no hotel rooms [for Pandya in New Zealand]. But then I get a call, saying, “You just come. MS has told us, ‘I don’t sleep on the bed [in any case]. He will sleep on my bed and I will sleep on the floor,” Pandya told ESPNcricinfo.
The all-rounder had made his white-ball debut under Dhoni in 2016. In January 2016, he made his debut in a three-match T20I against Australia. 9 months later, Pandya donned his maiden ODI cap in the opening game against New Zealand in Dharamsala. He won the Player of the Match award for his 3-for.
Since Dhoni gave up white-ball captaincy in January 2017, Pandya didn’t get many opportunities to play under him. But they were teammates for a long time and Pandya was part of the playing XI in Dhoni’s final international game, which came against New Zealand in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup.
