CSK captain MS Dhoni 'not as cool' as Hashim Amla: Imran Tahir

Imran Tahir is one of the few cricketers who has played alongside both MS Dhoni and Hashim Amla. The 41-year-old made his international debut in 2011 and played alongside Hashim Amla in the South African national team. The duo’s run together ended in 2019, when Hashim Amla retired from international cricket. The leg-spinner has also played with MS Dhoni in the Indian Premier League (IPL). 

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The South African cricketer was first part of the Rising Pune Supergiant team which was led by MS Dhoni in the 2016 IPL season. From 2018, with CSK’s return to the IPL, Imran Tahir has been a crucial cog in the team led by MS Dhoni. The leggie played some of his best cricket under MS Dhoni in 2019, picking 26 wickets for CSK, thereby becoming the highest wicket-taker of the season. Now, Imran Tahir has given his take on who he prefers between Hashim Amla and MS Dhoni and the answer may surprise many.

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Imran Tahir picks Hashim Amla over MS Dhoni

On being asked in an interview with ESPNcricinfo about who is the coolest player between Amla and the CSK captain, Imran Tahir, after a long deliberation answered that he would pick Hashim Amla out of the two. Tahir then went onto reveal how he met MS Dhoni for the first time during his interaction with Anis Sajan. He mentioned that his first encounter with the CSK captain was when he had been picked for the Rising Pune Supergiant team.

Imran Tahir admitted that initially, he was quite nervous as he didn’t know how to react. However, he later revealed that he was quite amazed when MS Dhoni came to Tahir and welcomed him into his room. The leg spinner concluded that it was heartening to hear MS Dhoni’s words, with Tahir disclosing that he told Dhoni that he will be definitely coming to his room. While Imran Tahir chose his former South African teammate this time, the last time he was asked a question involving the CSK skipper, the player had refrained from doing so. During a previous interaction with ESPNcricinfo, the CSK leg spinner had said that both MS Dhoni and Faf du Plessis are cool and smart when he was asked to choose between the two.

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Imran Tahir has had some of his best performances in the IPL while playing for MS Dhoni at CSK. Known for his wild celebrations, MS Dhoni had last year explained how he copes up with the spinner’s antics on the field. The CSK captain had joked that while it is great fun to see Imran Tahir celebrate, he doesn’t join in the celebrations with him as he always runs away to the other side of the field.

The MS Dhoni and Imran Tahir camaraderie will be on display again when IPL 2020 takes off later this year. CSK fans will be hoping that the duo will be able to lead their side to a fourth title victory in IPL 2020.

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Image Courtesy: icc-cricket.com