He’s MS Dhoni, What Would I Talk To Him: Jadeja Remembers First Meeting With Dhoni

Ravindra Jadeja and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have shared the same dressing room for more than a decade in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and then for the Indian team as well after Jadeja became a regular in the white ball and Test sides. 

They are quite jovial with each other, with Dhoni calling him ‘Sir Jadeja’. When Dhoni was active on Twitter (now X), he popularised the Sir Jadeja jokes and that branding got associated with the veteran all-rounder. 

However, things were so drastically different when Jadeja met Dhoni for the first time that he couldn’t even speak freely with him. 

"I first met MS Dhoni during the Challengers Trophy 2005 in Chennai,” Jadeja told Ashwin on “Kutti Stories With Ash” podcast. 

“I was coming from Mumbai, and I guess he was also coming from there in the same flight. I was sitting in the economy class and he was sitting in the business class. 

“Everybody was saying Dhoni is sitting in front there, but I was hesitant to meet him. Even now, I still get hesitant to meet him when he is not in the mood. He doesn't say anything but it's clearly visible on his face that he is not in the mood,” Jadeja added.

In fact so hesitant was Jadeja to talk to Dhoni that he was finding ways to avoid his future skipper, who by then had become India’s new cricketing sensation. 

“Our manager said that we have to go with Dhoni from the airport to the team hotel. I was hesitant and thought, how can I go with him? 

“Luckily, his phone got dropped on the floor and he had to wait. I thought this was the chance to get out of there, at that time I used to think about what I would talk to him, he is MS Dhoni,” Jadeja reminisced with a smile.