Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pace bowler Tushar Deshpande shared MS Dhoni’s words of inspiration before the 2023 Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign. He had struggled in his early days but played a key role for the franchise in their fifth title win and sealed his place in the bowling unit.

During the 2023 season, CSK were battling a huge injury crisis in their pace bowling department, with all of Ben Stokes, Deepak Chahar,
Sisanda Magala, Simarjeet Singh, and Mukesh Choudhary facing serious blows. In their absence, Deshpande led alongside youngsters like Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Matheesha Pathirana, and Akash Singh.

“[Dhoni told me]: ‘You have everything to succeed at international level. But you have to be calm during your run-up. Don’t get distracted by the crowd. Just take a deep breath, stay calm and bowl.’ If Mahi tells you that you have everything to be successful at international level, boss, that itself is an achievement,” Deshpande said in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.

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However, he recalled how the legend encouraged him despite bowling an expensive spell in the 2023 season-opening loss to the
Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad as well.

“Mahi came to me and said: ‘You haven’t made any mistakes. You bowled all good balls. It was not your day today. In the next match repeat the same,” he recalled.

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“I was bowling good yorkers, but suddenly I bowled a bouncer and got hit for a 100-metre six. He asked me: ‘Kyun daala bouncer?’ [Why did you bowl the bouncer?] I told him I thought he was expecting the yorker. He told me: Don’t play cricket in the mind. Yorker is a yorker and no one can hit you,” Deshpande said in the same interaction. “He was telling me we keep trying to play ahead of the game instead of staying in the present. The other thing he told me is to focus on my fitness, which is important for fast bowlers.”