MS Dhoni made a return to action on Friday after a gap of more than 10 months as his side Chennai Super Kings locked horns with defending champions Gujarat Titans in the opening match of IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
However, CSK suffered a defeat by 5 wickets against the Hardik Pandya-led side. Gujarat chased down the target of 179 runs off 19.2 overs for the loss of five wickets to get off to a winning start.

MS Dhoni Was Left In Pain

Ahead of the game, there were speculations regarding his participation in the opening game of IPL 2023 because of a niggle, but he played in the game. However, during the match, Dhoni hurt himself after landing on his injured left knee and was seen in pain.
The incident took place during the second ball of the penultimate over of the run chase when Deepak Chahar was doing his duty with the ball and Rahul Tewatia was on strike. Deepak bowled down the leg to Tewatia and the ball hit his pads before racing to the boundary rope. MSD went for a full-stretched dive to save the ball but failed in his attempt.
While the ball went towards the boundary rope, Dhoni’s landing hurt his injured left knee. The replays clearly showed that MS was in pain and the game halted for some minutes while the physio attended to him.
The video of the same is going viral on the internet. Watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Kab69TSzvY
https://twitter.com/SaschaZverevFan/status/1641866848265461762?s=20
MS Dhoni in Pain … I Hope 2 Days Break Helps Him
— Junaid Khan (@JunaidKhanation) March 31, 2023
The man dives, he is in pain, he stands up, puts up a smile and he's back to business!! Unbelievable at the age of 40 🥺#MSDhoni #IPL2023 #GTvCSK pic.twitter.com/mH45200DJ6
— You'll Always Be My Captain (@MahiRat183) March 31, 2023
https://twitter.com/aapkabhi/status/1642050995814539264?s=20
https://twitter.com/Jitu_kakroda/status/1641874448285564929?s=20
Meanwhile, MS looked in great touch with the bat during his brief stay at the crease on Friday. He walked out to bat at no. 8 for the Super Kings for the first time in his career. He remained not out on 14 runs from seven balls as he smashed a stunning six and a four in his crucial knock.