Tribal runners from Shirpur subdivision of Dhule district in Maharashtra received the greatest of applause of their lives from the former Indian skipper MS Dhoni, who was in the city, for a commercial shoot at Mehboob Studio at Bandra.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni spent 15 minutes with the athletes and encouraged them support. He also gifted them an autograph bat. Talking to mid-day about the same, Narayan Pawara, 19, who won the Singapore U-19 10-km run last December said, “We never expected to meet such a big cricket star. He asked us about our difficulties and enquired about our training. When we told him that these days, due to our exams, we train from evening till midnight, he was really impressed and encouraged us to work hard to achieve our goal.”

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Along with Narayan, Somnath Pawara, Jagan Pawara, Chetna Patel and Ashwini Chaudhary, also met India’s star wicketkeeper-batsman. Talking about his meeting with Mahi, Somnath said: “I was speechless after seeing him, but I somehow managed to tell him how I completed the Singapore 42km marathon by mistake instead of running 21km. I wore the same shoes gifted to me by Dhoni for that event. The bat he gave us too will always remain special.”

Meanwhile, Dhoni opted to take a break from India recent tour to Sri Lanka for the Nidahas Trophy 2018. He is now gearing up for the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) starting from April 7. Further, Dhoni will lead Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the upcoming IPL.

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Later in the evening, the athletes had the opportunity to mete SoBo SuperSonics skipper Abhishek Nayar and Shivaji Park Lions captain Bravish Shetty for the toss in Qualifier 2 of the T20 Mumbai League at the Wankhede Stadium.