On and off the cricket field, Pakistan and India are arch-rivals, yet players on both sides of the border have a strong bond. MS Dhoni, the former Indian captain, made a goodwill gesture by presenting Haris Rauf, Pakistan’s great right-arm bowler, with his signed Chennai Super Kings (CSK) shirt.

Haris, who is currently one of the most dangerous fast bowlers in limited-overs cricket, thanked MS Dhoni on Twitter for his thoughtful gesture and expressed his joy at receiving the jersey from one of his idols.

“The legend and captain cool, MS Dhoni has honored me with this beautiful gift. The ‘number 7’ is still winning hearts through his kind and goodwill gesture.” Twitter read.

The legend & capt cool @msdhoni has honored me with this beautiful gift his shirt. The "7" still winning hearts through his kind & goodwill gestures. @russcsk specially Thank you so much for kind support. pic.twitter.com/XYpSNKj2Ia

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— Haris Rauf (@HarisRauf14) January 7, 2022

He also praised Russell Radhakrishnan, the CSK team manager, for his support in the tweet.

Haris’ tweet has now gone viral, with over 67,000 likes and 6,700 retweets from cricket fans from both countries, who praised the gesture and the mutual respect between the two players.

While the two cricketers have never played against one other on the same field, they did meet during Pakistan’s 2021 T20 World Cup victory against India. MS Dhoni was named India’s squad coach for the tournament, while Haris was important in Pakistan’s first semi-final appearance since 2012.