Former England captain Michael Vaughan and famed commentator Harsha Bhogle condemned the after-match demeanor of RCB players. On Saturday, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Chennai Super Kings were embroiled in an intense battle for the last remaining IPL 2024 playoff spot. RCB met the stipulation of keeping CSK at bay by at least 18 runs. Hence, advanced to the next stage. Their victory celebration, however, went for far too long that even the forever-long ritual of the gentleman's game was hampered. 

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Why MS Dhoni did not shake hands with RCB players?

The stakes were high as it was a do-or-die game for both CSK and RCB. Batting first RCB showed a commendable display of batting and scored 218 runs on the board at the loss of 5 wickets. The qualification cutoff for CSK was 201 runs, and RCB had the task of refraining Chennai Super Kings from getting to that total. Bengaluru curbed CSK from scoring beyond 191 runs in 20 overs and hence succeeded in their objective. 

The excitement of advancing to the playoffs propelled RCB players to celebrate for longer and hence the hand-shake formality did not transpire. After the conclusion of the match, some hard-hitting reports, backed by visuals, came out that stated that MS Dhoni did not shake hands with Royal Challengers Bengaluru players after the conclusion of the RCB vs CSK IPL 2024 match. Later, clarity prevailed on the subject, and it was found that MS Dhoni waited for the RCB players to finish their celebration and shake hands with him, but the RCB players kept on going, leading Dhoni to lose patience and leave the field without shaking hands.

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Vaughan and Bhogle criticises RCB players' conduct

Michael Vaughan and Harsha Bhogle discussed the subject in hindsight and criticised RCB players for not carrying the "decency to go and shake" MS Dhoni's hand first. Vaughan highlighted that the RCB vs CSK match could go down as MS Dhoni's last match in IPL, and in case Dhoni announces his retirement in the near future, it would be hard for RCB players to digest that they left a legend in waiting.

“RCB have a huge amount of support but they also wind up a lot of people and I saw a lot of it tonight. I get it (the celebration), they have never been in a position where they won the IPL,” Vaughan said on Cricbuzz.

“If there ever was a time for a group of players to show awareness. We don’t know but if that was MS Dhoni’s last game and those players run around the ground doing handstands when all they need is to wait and meet the legend. We have to just go and shake his hands and then we can do a few cartwheels and handstands,” the former England captain said.

“This is an iconic player. I wouldn’t want to be an RCB player tomorrow morning thinking, ‘Wait a minute, MS Dhoni has announced retirement and we didn’t have the decency to go and shake his hand first," he added..