CSK Star's Stunning Take On Angry MS Dhoni's Infamous Barging Into Ground Moment In IPL 2019: "Trouble..."

The 2019 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) saw a rare occurrence as the usually composed MS Dhoni lost his cool and barged into the field of play from his dugout. Angry at an umpire's decision to not award a waist-high no-ball in the final over of a tense match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR), Dhoni protested it by walking into the ground and holding a discussion with the umpires. Veteran CSK spinner Shreyas Gopal, who was then a part of RR, explained the shock at seeing Dhoni walk into the field and the "pin-drop silence" that followed.

Dhoni had just been dismissed with CSK needing eight runs off the final three balls against RR. Then, RR pacer Ben Stokes bowled a full-toss, which was initially called a waist-high no-ball. However, following a suggestion by the square-leg umpire, the no-ball decision was overruled.

What followed was an angry protest from Dhoni, who walked into the ground to have a discussion with the umpires.

Ultimately, the umpires stuck to their decision as Dhoni animatedly walked off the ground.

Shreyas Gopal, who was on the outfield at that point, reflected on the incident.

"I was at fine-leg actually, so he just walked past like that. I knew trouble is on its way," Gopal narrated, in a video posted by CSK's YouTube channel.

"If someone has to walk in, especially him being probably the coolest and calmest cricketer, if he has to walk in, then there's something that has really bothered him or not right," Gopal said.

"If you look at it, probably the only time when Mahi bhai walked in, there was absolute pin-drop silence and no one spoke. The only time I saw him walk into a field and everyone was quiet," Gopal added.

CSK went on to win the match, but Dhoni later stated that he considered his actions on that night a "big mistake".

"It happened in one of the IPL games, when I just walked on the field. That was a big mistake. But, other than that also, there have been instances where something gets triggered. We play a sport where the stakes are very high, you are supposed to win every game. You have to manage a lot of things," Dhoni said years later in a chat hosted by MasterCard.

Gopal, who represented RR between 2018 and 2021, was picked up by CSK in the IPL 2025 mega auction.

Topics mentioned in this article

MS Dhoni Shreyas Gopal Chennai Super Kings Rajasthan Royals Cricket IPL 2025