As the sun went down at MA Chidambaram Stadium for the IPL 2024 opening match between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), all eyes were on one person: MS Dhoni. The former CSK captain had surprised everyone by passing on the captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad just a day before the match. But the fans were still eager to see him. And they weren’t disappointed.
A man who looked remarkably like Dhoni, named Rishabh Malakar, became the center of attention. He was wearing the same yellow ‘7’ jersey as Dhoni and happily posed for selfies with fans.
The video of Malakar quickly became popular online, with many people wanting to take pictures with him. Malakar, who is a software engineer from Indore, even joked about how his jaw hurt from smiling so much and how he was sweating under the spotlight. But it was clear why he became famous so suddenly: he looked almost exactly like Dhoni, especially with his long hair.
As the video of Malakar spread, many spectators had to do a double-take because they thought he was Dhoni himself from certain angles.