"He Likes Smoking Shisha": Ex-CSK Player Reveals How Stars Socialised In MS Dhoni's Room

MS Dhoni's influence at Chennai Super Kings has always gone beyond the cricket field, and a former teammate has now offered a glimpse into the team's off-field bonding culture. According to ex-CSK batter Mike Hussey, Dhoni kept an ‘open-door policy' during the IPL, allowing players to freely walk into his room to talk, relax or unwind. Some players, Hussey revealed, even enjoyed shisha or flavoured tobacco while hanging out, a detail that has sparked fresh curiosity about CSK's dressing-room atmosphere.

Speaking on The Overlap Cricket podcast, Hussey said that Dhoni's room often turned into the squad's unofficial meeting point. Players would drop in after games or during long tournament days, creating an environment where conversations flowed easily. "Dhoni is just the most amazing guy, his room is available open 24 hours a day. So, anyone can go up there, and just sit. He has got his lounge room, players just sit around, they start talking cricket, some of them like the 'shisha', you know the flavored tobacco stuff. So, that is their way of socializing and things like that. Credit to Dhoni, he opens his room up, lots of players go up, they bring food up, it is fantastic" Hussey said.

This isn't the first time such anecdotes have surfaced. Former CSK player George Bailey had earlier revealed that Dhoni would often host relaxed hookah sessions to help young players feel comfortable in the team environment. He said "He likes smoking a bit of the shisha or the hookah. So, he quite often would set that up in his room, and it was very much open-door policy. You would go in and quite often find a lot of younger players there. For India or a lot of other cricket teams, it can be hierarchical, but he certainly broke that down" he had said in a video posted by Cricket Australia in 2018 

While these revelations occasionally spark debates, many believe this informal bonding culture is one of the reasons CSK has always functioned like a close-knit unit. For years, players have praised Dhoni's calm leadership and his ability to make everyone feel included, something that clearly extended beyond the field as well.

Topics mentioned in this article

MS Dhoni Michael Hussey George Bailey Chennai Super Kings Cricket