“He is liked by even the opposing team and their supporters” - Yashasvi Jaiswal on tremendous crowd support for MS Dhoni in IPL 2023

Rajasthan Royals (RR) batter Yashasvi Jaiswal has stated that he is not surprised by the tremendous craze among fans for Mahendra Singh Dhoni in what could be the legend's last Indian Premier League (IPL) season.

The Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain has received resounding support from the crowd even in the franchise’s away games. Dhoni will next be in action when Chennai take on Rajasthan in match number 37 of IPL 2023 at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur on Thursday, April 27.

At a pre-match press conference, Jaiswal shared his views on the amazing support that Dhoni has received from fans both at home and away. He said:

“I can understand the fans’ feelings towards Dhoni. He is liked by even the opposing team and their supporters. I also enjoy Dhoni’s game as I am also a big fan of his. However, we must take that in our stride and concentrate on our performance.

“In the last match, we got overwhelming support from the Jaipur crowd, and I am hoping they would continue to cheer us despite Dhoni’s presence on the ground.”

Rajasthan have lost their last two matches in a row. They went down to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) by 10 runs and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by seven runs. However, Jaiswal asserted that the RR are confident of bouncing back strongly. He said:

“We lost the last two matches quite closely but its part and parcel of the game. We should forget those losses as quickly as possible and concentrate on our process. The team is determined to bounce back and regain the top position in the points tally. It happens in cricket and sometimes you lose games which were under our control.”

Rajasthan Royals were set to chase 190 in their game against Bangalore but managed only 182/6.

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“Every match is important for us” - Yashasvi Jaiswal

RR might have their task cut out on Thursday since table-toppers CSK are on a three-match winning streak and will be high on confidence.

Admitting that facing a strong Chennai outfit would be a challenge, Yashasvi Jaiswal said:

“CSK are amassing huge totals on the board, but we have a world-class bowling attack especially in the spin department to check them. We are not under any pressure against CSK." Jaiswal added, "We defeated them earlier in the tournament and we are optimistic about a better show tomorrow. It’s a crucial match but there are no easy games in the IPL. Every match is important for us.”

When the two teams met in the first half of IPL 2023, RR beat CSK by three runs in Chennai in a last-over finish.