"Guys go and play FIFA with him...": Curran on Dhoni's off-the-field persona

London [UK], March 21 (ANI): England all-rounder Sam Curran opened up on spending time with legendary Indian cricketer and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) former skipper MS Dhoni, pointing to his stressfree, easy-to-talk persona, which has made him popular among people.
Sam Curran was speaking to former England captain Nasser Hussain on Sky Cricket Podcast.
Curran, who is now back in the CSK fold after a stint in 2020-21, said, "The other night I was batting with MS and Jadeja (Ravindra Jadeja) 11.30 in the evening, I was thinking, where in the world would you do this? The lights were on and we were just smacking balls everywhere. And I was thinking, but you have all the local players around the group and they just sit there and they just watch MS. It is just more the aura of the guy. He is so easy to chat with and I think his calmness, I guess the big moments he's been involved in."
"But he never seems to panic. I feel like the emotion on his face, he never really shows too much. And even in the hotel now, the guys always talk about, he leaves his room open, guys go and play FIFA with him, chat cricket and stuff like that. He obviously can't leave the hotel much because he just gets absolutely mobbed," he added.
CSK and MI, both five-time IPL champions, will kickstart their IPL campaign with the league's 'El Clasico' match at Chepauk Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Dhoni will play in the 2025 IPL season for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), chasing his sixth title under Ruturaj Gaikwad's leadership. Last season, his team missed playoffs due to a poor net-run rate, finishing at the fifth spot.
Whether the upcoming IPL season with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will be the last for Dhoni is uncertain. But ever since he retired from international cricket in 2020, there have been speculations over when the legend will pull the curtains on a glorious IPL career.
CSK retained Dhoni as an uncapped player at Rs 4 crore ahead of the 2025 season. The IPL introduced a new rule ahead of last year's auction, allowing franchises to retain players in the uncapped category if they have not played international cricket for five years.
Since he retired from international cricket in 2020, Dhoni has only appeared in the IPL. In the 2024 season, he scored 161 runs at a strike rate of 220 and an average of 53.66 after 11 innings, staying unbeaten eight times and fulfilling the role of a finisher for the five-time champions.
Dhoni is the sixth-highest run-getter in IPL history, with 5.243 runs in 264 matches and 229 innings at an average of 39.12, a strike rate of 137.53 and 24 fifties. His best score is 84*. Other than CSK, he also played for Rising Pune Supergiant (RPG), a now-defunct franchise, from 2016-17. (ANI)