Apart from the Mahendra Singh Dhoni-Chennai Super Kings association, another combination that the three-time champions are popular amongst the fans for is the 'Thala' and 'Chinna Thala' duo of MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina. Raina, who has been with Dhoni and CSK since the inception of the IPL (except the two years when the franchise was suspended in 2016, 2017) has been yin to Dhoni's yang.
Raina followed Dhoni's footsteps last year when the 40-year old hung up his boots from international cricket on India's Independence Day 2020, on the same day and since then people have been eager to see both of them playing alongside each other and having some fun and winning games of cricket together.
Raina had pulled out from the 2020 edition of the IPL due to personal reasons but when he came back in the 14th edition earlier this year, the fans got a dose of what they can expect from the veteran duo. Although it was cut short when the tournament was suspended midway, the fans cannot wait for them to take the field again starting September 19 in Dubai when IPL 2021 resumes.
The first group of CSK players have been sweating hard in the nets after arriving in the city on August 13 and following a mandatory 6-day quarantine, the players are leaving no stone unturned to resume their side's campaign from where they left - winning five out of the seven games they played.
Now, recently the CSK social media team shared a fabulous image from the nets session, where Dhoni and Raina are batting in adjacent nets at the same time and their cameraperson captured them in the same frame. The '73' duo is a fan favourite and the users couldn't ask for a better picture, to sum up their bond.
The post has received over 17k likes on Twitter and has gone viral since the CSK official handle posted it on Saturday.
