Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) spinner Karn Sharma shed light on the IPL 2024 handshake controversy after the final league stage fixture against the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
After winning their final league stage game against CSK, the Bengaluru-based franchise made it to the playoffs and had wild celebrations. However, many fans on social media slammed RCB players for not shaking hands with MS Dhoni after the game, thinking it could have been the legend’s last IPL season.
Speaking in an exclusive interaction on RevSportz, Karn Sharma has revealed that his teammates couldn’t meet MS Dhoni after the game as they were celebrating. However, they went to the CSK dressing room and met Dhoni later.
“There was nothing like that. It was a very big achievement for us, from winning only one game out of six and then winning six in a row to qualify. It is obvious that the celebration would be slightly over the top. There was no rift as such, and we could not meet MS Dhoni at that time because we were celebrating, but after that everyone went to the dressing room and met Dhoni,” Karn Sharma said on Revsportz.
“It is nothing like how it was shown outside. It got a bit late, but everyone met him. If you take 10-12 minutes instead of two minutes, obviously no one will wait for you at that moment, but there was no rift at all,” he added.
Unfortunately, RCB couldn’t move past the Eliminator as they suffered a defeat to the Rajasthan Royals (RR). Further, Karn Sharma, who also plied his trade for CSK in 2018 and 2021, showered praise on Ruturaj Gaikwad.
“Gaikwad was a very good batter right from the start. He was scoring runs in domestic cricket as well. Someone who plays in the IPL only does after having done something. He got the last three games and scored fifties in all, and the rest is history. It is not easy playing in the IPL. CSK picked him as he had done well in domestic cricket. Sometimes it happens that your team does not click, but he has worked on things, and when he got to bat at his actual position thereafter, he dominated,” he concluded.
