IPL 2021: Hardik Pandya shares a hearty moment with 'brothers' MS Dhoni & Krunal; see pic

Mumbai Indians (MI) all-rounder Hardik Pandya shared a picture with Krunal and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper MS Dhoni after the thrilling match between both teams on Saturday. Hardik shared the picture on social media with a caption that read, "My brothers", which was accompanied by a heart emoji. In the picture, Hardik and Krunal can be seen standing alongside MS Dhoni with their hands on his shoulder. Since being shared on Twitter, the post has garnered more than 1,50,000 likes and nearly 13,000 retweets. 

The brotherly relationship between MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya is a well-established fact now as the latter is often spotted spending some quality time with the former Indian skipper and his family whenever they get together for cricket in the IPL, or earlier it used to be during India's national camp. Hardik is also very fond of Dhoni's daughter Ziva, whose mother Sakshi keeps sharing pictures of them playing together. 

MI vs CSK

The match between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings went down to the wire as the Blues won by 4 wickets with zero balls to spare. Rohit Sharma won the toss for MI and decided to bowl first. Mumbai succeeded in breaking the opening momentum early as Trent Boult sent Ruturaj Gaikwad back to the pavilion for just 4 runs. Faf du Plessis and Moeen Ali forged an important partnership for CSK as they put together 108 runs on the board. Moeen Ali scored his first half-century of the season before being dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah. Faf du Plessis and Suresh Raina, who had come in place of Ali, were also sent back in the successive over by Kieron Pollard. CSK was looking in a tough position with 116/4 in 12 overs. 

However, all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and Ambati Rayudu steadied the innings for CSK as they scored more than 100 runs together to help Chennai cross the 200-run mark. Rayudu unleashed himself and scored one of the fastest half-centuries of the season, while Jadeja provided him support from the other end. Rayudu scored 72 runs off just 27 balls, including 7 sixes and 4 boundaries. When Mumbai Indians came out to bat, they had a target of 219 runs on the board. Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock forged a 71-run partnership on top of the batting order before the MI skipper was dismissed by Shardul Thakur for 35 runs. Suryakumar Yadav lost his wicket early for just 3 runs as Jadeja struck with the ball. de Kock followed him as he was dismissed for 38 runs by Moeen Ali. 

Krunal Pandya and Kieron Pollard then played an important knock together as they took Mumbai from 81/3 to 170. Krunal was dismissed lbw by Sam Curran, who also took his younger brother Hardik Pandya's wicket at a crucial moment in the game when it looked like the match was slipping from the hands of CSK players and skipper MS Dhoni. After Pandya brothers were sent back, James Neesham gave away his wicket cheaply off Sam Curran's bowling again. Pollard took the matter onto himself and finished the thrilling game in the last over with zero balls to spare. Pollard was adjudged the player of the match. 

(Image Credit: PTI)