Watch: MS Dhoni's "Patriotic Gesture" During 3rd T20I Sends Twitter Into A Frenzy

MS Dhoni has time and again showed plenty of class on and off the field and Saturday the former Indian captain showcased it yet again. During the India vs New Zealand 3rd T20I, a fan carrying the Indian flag breached security in Hamilton, ran to Dhoni and touched his feet. The 37-year-old saw the Indian flag touching the ground, and quickly took it away from the fan and gave it to a security personnel. Dhoni's brilliant gesture went viral on Twitter, sending fans into a frenzy.

A fan tweeted a video of the incredible moment.

Firstly Dhoni Gives Respect to the National Flag..

Tiranga Hamari Jaan Hai,
Dhoni Hamara Shaan Hai.@msdhoni MSDpic.twitter.com/iCad9EZbLI

— Akki (@AkshayVandure1) February 11, 2019

Other fans hailed Dhoni for his actions.

such a patriotic gesture.. just observe.. first thing he bends down and takes the country's flag from a fan.. just salute his love towards the country's flag..

— Sakshi (@sakshi_tweetz) February 10, 2019

dis is called legend
and dis is called respecting the nation and national flag @msdhoni

many great cricketers Cricketers may come and go
but there is no one like ms dhoni


salute sir ms dhoni pic.twitter.com/eFly81aaTv

— (@madhavanand22) February 10, 2019

When a fan tried to touch feet of Dhoni, he first took the flag from him so that it doesn't touch the floor.

This might look like funny , but this is very very deep#Thala#MSDhoni#MSD#Dhoni#INDvNZ #Dhoni300 pic.twitter.com/CK2ShKMyJP

— Hemanth Kumar (@hemanth_Vit) February 10, 2019

Meanwhile living in the Society where people burning National flag Dhoni #NZvInd @msdhoni pic.twitter.com/L8EuB55osc

— Son Of Sumathi Selvakumar (@Iam_Jaimsd) February 10, 2019

Best moment of Today's game: A fan breakin the fences reached playground to touch #MSDhoni's feet, Tiranga (IndianFlag) was in his hand while he bent down to MSD's feet, @msdhoni presence of Mind & Patriotism, took the Flag away frm him, respected the Tiranga Salute #NZvIND

— Sameer (@sameer_singh9) February 10, 2019

What a gesture by @msdhoni

When a fan ran towards the ground holding national flag in his hand. He was trying to touch feet of Mahi with flag in same hand.

First thing MS did was hold flag up.

That's true respect to nation.

— #RenukaJain, FCA (@RenukaJain6) February 10, 2019

On the match front, there was heartbreak for Indian fans as the team fell agonisingly short in the chase as hosts New Zealand clinched the three-match T20I series 2-1.

Put into bat, Colin Munro stitched together a 80-run stand with Tim Seifert for the first wicket to give the hosts a flying start. The left-handed opener ended up smashing 72 off 40 balls, including five sixes to power the Black Caps to an imposing total of 212 for four.

Vijay Shankar top-scored for India with a 28-ball 43 for India in the chase but the inabilty of Indian batsmen to make their starts count came back to bite them in the end. 

Rohit Sharma (38 off 32) Rishabh Pant (28 off 12), Hardik Pandya (21 off 11) all got starts but failed to make it count.

A late onslaught from Dinesh Karthik (33 not out) and Krunal Pandya (26) took India extremely close but New Zealand held their nerves to eke out a four-run win to claim the series.

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team New Zealand Cricket Team MS Dhoni Colin Munro New Zealand vs India, 3rd T20I Cricket