Chennai Super Kings superstar MS Dhoni is someone who enjoys a massive fanbase all around India and during every match, the fans can be seen chanting his name and cheering his every move. However, ahead of the IPL 2024 match against Lucknow Super Giants at the Ekana Stadium, the city of Lucknow welcomed him with a number of cheeky hoardings that have gone viral. One of the hoardings read: "Hum chahte hain Dhoni last ball pe six maare, par tab, jab jeetne ke liye 12 run ho (We want MS Dhoni to hit a six in the final ball of the match, but when CSK is chasing 12 runs)."
Another one read - "Hum chahte hain ki Dhoni achcha khele, Par match LSG jeet jaye (We want Dhoni to play well, but LSG end up winning the match)".
Meanwhile, Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma opened up about his feelings regarding the 'Impact Player' rule in the IPL which was introduced in 2023. Rohit said in a recent interaction that he is a not a fan of the rule as it may end up hampering the growth of Indian all-rounders.
"Eventually, cricket is played by 11 players not 12 players. I am not a big fan of 'Impact Player', you are taking out so much from the game just because of little bit of entertainment, for people around," he pointed out.
"...I can give you so many examples, guys like Washington Sundar, Shivam Dube are not getting to bowl. For us (Indian team), it is not a good thing you know. I don't know what you can do about it but I am not a fan of it, frankly speaking," he said.
"It is entertaining because there are 12 players, whoever the impact player is, you can change a player later seeing how the game goes, depending on how the pitch is behaving." "If you bat well, don't lose wickets, you can add another bowler, you have 6-7 bowlers and you don't need an extra batter if teams are batting well upfront. You hardly see a no.7 or 8 coming in to bat," Rohit concluded.