Royal Challengers Bengaluru booked their spot in the IPL 2024 playoffs with a sensational victory over Chennai Super Kings on Saturday. The Faf du Plessis-led side needed a win in their final league game to finish in the Top 4 and the excitement was palpable at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium as they won the match by 27 runs. However, the celebrations from the players came under a bit of criticism after MS Dhoni walked off the pitch without shaking hands after waiting for the RCB players. Videos on social media showed that Dhoni waited for the RCB players who kept celebrating before making his way to the dressing room without shaking hands. Virat Kohli later followed him inside to talk to the veteran star.
During a discussion on Cricbuzz, former England cricket team skipper Michael Vaughan blasted RCB players for not taking time to shake hands with Dhoni.
“I can see that with the RCB team. They enjoy a lot of support but they also wind out the people. We saw a lot of that tonight. I get that that they have never been in a position where they have won the IPL and they desperately made it to the eliminations. But you don’t wanna be one of those teams that everyone wants to lose,” Vaughan said.
Famous commentator Harsha Bhogle also joined the conversation and said that irrespective of the occasion, the players should shake hands before carrying on with celebrations.
“I have not seen the pictures but it does not matter. You can win a World Cup final. You display your emotions but you still shake hands with the opposition. It is one of the great things about our game. It is symbolic of the fact that now our antagonism is over. We did not give an inch to each other but now our antagonism is over. It was just a game and now we shake hands. Then go back and celebrate,” Bhogle said.
Vaughan also spoke about a possibility that the match can end up being Dhoni’s last in IPL and wondered if the RCB players will come to regret their decision.
“If ever there was time for a group of players to show awareness, this was it. We do not know but if that was MS Dhoni’s last game, those players have run around the ground doing handstands while all they had to do was go – Wait a second. The legend is over there. We have to just go and shake his hand. We shake his hand and then we can go and do cartwheels and handstands. This is okay. But I would not want be a RCB player thinking Dhoni has just announced his retirement and we did not have the decency to go and shake his hand first,” the former England captain added.
