CSK denies Harbhajan's claim of MS Dhoni being punched; physio dismisses as 'false' and 'baseless'

The Chennai Super Kings fielding coach, Tommy Simsek, strongly refuted Harbhajan Singh's statement regarding MS Dhoni allegedly 'punching a television' in the CSK dressing room after their defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore. Simsek deemed these claims as baseless and defended the character of the iconic cricketer, stating that he has never witnessed Dhoni acting aggressively after any IPL match.

"This is absolute Rubbish! MSD did not break anything and I have never seen him aggressive after any match. Fake news!" Simsek said in a reply to an Instagram post that reported about Dhoni's behaviour after that IPL match based on Harbhajan's comments in a podcast.

Harbhajan, Dhoni's former India and CSK teammate, was part of the commentary team in that CSK vs RCB virtual knockout fixture. The former India off-spinner said Dhoni was so angry after the match that CSK lost and got knocked out of the tournament that he "punched a screen."

“I was watching from upstairs and saw that they were celebrating, (CSK) had formed up in a line to shake hands with them. It took them a little while and by the time RCB were done with their celebration (Dhoni) went back inside and he punched a screen that comes before you to reach the dressing room. It's ok; this happens in sports," Harbhajan said on Sports Yaari.

RCB had gone into the game on the back of a stunning turnaround, winning their previous five games on the trot after losing six games on the trot. CSK held the final playoff spot and the only way RCB could go through was if they won on that day by a significant margin, making the game a virtual knockout match in itself with the odds stacked against the latter.

An explosive 47 off 29 from Virat Kohli and 54 off 39 by captain Faf du Plessis, helped along by big finishes powered by Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik and Glenn Maxwell, helped RCB put up a score of 218/5 batting first. CSK would've qualified, regardless of whether they win or lose, if they managed to score more than 200 due to their superior net run rate. However, RCB remarkably managed restrict CSK to 191/7, thus going through to the playoffs despite being bottom of the table halfway through the league stage.

Following the match, MS Dhoni, the legendary former CSK captain, who had been dismissed in the final over of the run-chase, led the side's players out for the customary handshakes. However, with the RCB players immersed in jubilant celebrations over their play-off qualification, Dhoni paused for a few moments before turning back and urging captain Ruturaj Gaikwad to lead the handshakes instead.

Dhoni then proceeded to shake hands with a few members of the RCB dugout before making his way into the dressing room.