'Who doesn't love him?'

Sunil Gavaskar -- arguably the greatest Indian cricketer of the 20th century -- had a fan boy moment when he sought Mahendra Singh Dhoni's autograph on his shirt.

Folks at the M A Chidambaram ground on Sunday, May 14, 2023, were pleasantly surprised as Gavaskar ran towards Dhoni and asked him to autograph his shirt while Thala was taking a lap of honour with the Chennai Super Kings players after their game against the Kolkata Knight Riders.

'When I got to know about Chennai Super Kings and M S Dhoni going to take a lap of honour at Chepauk, I decided to create a special memory. That's why I ran towards MSD to take his autograph. It was his last home game at Chepauk,' Gavaskar told Star Sports.

'Of course, he will get a chance to play here if CSK qualifies for the Play-Offs. But I decided to make that moment special. I was fortunate enough that someone in the camera unit had a marker pen. So, I am thankful to that person as well.'

Gavaskar also praised Dhoni for accepting his request. 'So, I went to Mahi and requested him to sign an autograph on the shirt that I was wearing. It was so nice of him to acknowledge it.

'It was a very emotional moment for me because this fellow has made immense contributions to Indian cricket,' an emotional Gavaskar added.

The legendary opener also revealed his two most special cricketing moments.

'Kapil Dev lifting the 1983 World Cup Trophy and M S Dhoni hitting that winning six in the 2011 World Cup final are the two cricketing moments I would love to see before I die.'

SMG was born on July 10, 1949, almost 32 years before MSD was born on July 7, 1981.

"Who doesn't love him? What he has done for Indian cricket over the years has been amazing. What is most important is the role model that he has been. So many youngsters look up to him.'

• IPL 2023