Not Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma! This World Cup Winning Legend Is Gukesh's Favourite Cricketer. (AP/PTI)
Gukesh D became the youngest ever world chess champion just at the age of 18. He defeated Ding Liren 7.5-6.5 to become just the second Indian after Viswanathan Anand to grab this honour.
Gukesh's victory on the world's biggest stage has drawn admiration and accolades from all over the world. The Indian teenager managed to get his hand on the coveted prize and also earned a whopping INR 11.34 crore from the World Chess Championship.
Every child in India is very synonymous with cricket while growing up and Gukesh is not an exception. So Who is Gukesh's favourite cricketer? In a video shared by the Whistle Podu Army, Gukesh can be seen speaking very fondly of MS Dhoni who happens to be a cult figure in Chennai due to his association with the Chennai Super Kings.
Gukesh was asked, who is the sportsperson you admire the most and he answered, “When I was younger it was MS Dhoni.”
He further added, “Now it's Novak Djokovic. I think both are great athletes and I really admired a lot of things about them.”
MS Dhoni has been a father figure in the Indian cricket. He led the Indian Team to three ICC titles, the T20 World Cup in 2007, the ODI World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.
The 43 year old has been retained by CSK for INR 4 crore and will be in action in IPL 2025. The former CSK skipper guided his team to five IPL titles and it remains to be seen how he will cope with the difficulties of the cash rich league next season.
Incidentally, Gukesh will have to pay a sufficient income tax on his earnings to the tune of 4.67 crore and it exceeds MS Dhoni's salary for IPL 2025.
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