MS Dhoni turns 'umpire', dances after wide in CSK nets - WATCH

NEW DELHI: The whistles were backmost successful Chennai — and truthful was the laughter. Preparations for IPL 2026 officially began arsenic erstwhile India and Chennai Super Kings skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined existent skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad and the remainder of the squad for their archetypal signifier league astatine the franchise’s high-performance centre connected Sunday.The five-time champions kicked disconnected their campy with respective Indian players reporting for duty, portion overseas recruits and overseas coaching unit are yet to assemble. For now, adjunct coaches Sridharan Sriram and Rajiv Kumar are overseeing the sessions on with spot and conditioning manager Greg King.

But it didn’t instrumentality agelong for the spotlight — and the smiles — to centre astir Dhoni.Facing a left-arm spinner during the nets, Dhoni was astatine his mischievous best.

The bowler bowled a wide ball, and alternatively of simply letting it go, Dhoni paused, theatrically gestured for a wide and broke into a playful, dance-like signal. Teammates, enactment unit and everyone astir the crushed burst into laughter arsenic the 44-year-old reminded everyone that adjacent pre-season nets tin treble up arsenic amusement erstwhile he’s around.Among those contiguous astatine the league were Ayush Mhatre, Mukesh Choudhary, Rahul Chahar, Urvil Patel, Ramakrishna Ghosh and Sarfaraz Khan.

The franchise aboriginal shared visuals from the training, with Dhoni and Gaikwad batting successful adjacent nets — a symbolic passing-of-the-baton representation that sent fans into a frenzy online.

While Dhoni entertained, Gaikwad looked crisp and fluent, showcasing assured footwork and cleanable timing. Sarfaraz, meanwhile, was seen keenly observing Dhoni’s nett league — possibly picking up a instrumentality oregon 2 from the maestro finisher.New signings Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma besides joined the squad and took portion successful the drills arsenic preparations gathered pace.This signifier of the campy mostly features Indian home players. The internationals presently connected nationalist work volition articulation later. Sanju Samson and Shivam Dube, who are portion of India’s T20 World Cup campaign, are expected to nexus up with the squad aft the tourney concludes connected March 7. Shreyas Gopal, caller from Karnataka’s Ranji Trophy last run, volition besides study astatine a aboriginal date.Earlier, the franchise unveiled their jersey for the upcoming season, officially mounting the code for different blockbuster IPL campaign.Squad: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Sarfaraz Khan, Matt Short, Sanju Samson,

MS Dhoni

, Urvil Patel, Kartik, Shivam Dube, Zak Foulkes, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Shreyas Gopal, Jamie Overton, Akeal Hosein, Aman Khan, Veer, Noor Ahmad, Rahul Chahar, Khaleel Ahmed, Nathan Ellis, Matt Henry, Gurjapneet Singh, Anshul Kamboj, and Mukesh Choudhary.