![Prashant Veer turns left-handed MS Dhoni [Source: screengrab, AP]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1788088875057_Prashant_Veer_MS_Dhoni.jpg?type=hq)
Prashant Veer turns left-handed MS Dhoni [Source: screengrab, AP]
They say when you spend enough time around greatness, you are bound to pick up a thing or two without even realizing it. Such may be the case with Prashant Veer, who has now spent one full season with former Indian captain MS Dhoni at the CSK franchise.
Getting picked by the CSK for this year’s IPL 2026 season, Veer did not share a place in the same playing XI with Dhoni considering the latter spent the entire tournament on the sidelines owing to his injury. However, one can assume that spending time with the legend in the dressing room alone might have given Veer plenty of opportunities to learn and soak in much experience.
Prashant Veer becomes left-handed version of MS Dhoni from the yesteryears
In match number 25 of the UP T20 2026 season, Noida Kings captain Prashant Veer bludgeoned 50* runs off just 27 balls. Batting at number five for his side at the Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, the cricketer launched three boundaries and five huge sixes as the Noida Kings mounted 128-6 in a 12-overs-a-side game on August 29.
Veer smashed two of those sixes in successive deliveries off Kanpur Superstars fast bowler Ajay Kumar in the tenth over of the innings.
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The cricketer dispatched Kumar with a brutal ‘helicopter shot’ towards his leg side for a huge maximum. A couple of overs later, the Noida Kings skipper unleashed another helicopter, this time off Shakti Verma to reach his half-century from just 23 balls.
The shot was reminiscent of MS Dhoni in his prime, with Prashant Veer generating tremendous power through his wrists to send the ball soaring over the leg side.
How did MS Dhoni popularized ‘helicopter shot’?
While Sachin Tendulkar was one of the first cricketers to have successfully attempted a helicopter shot, way back in 2002 no less, it was MS Dhoni who popularized the shot with his repeated use in international cricket.
Dhoni also unleashed the famous ‘helicopter’ in IPL as well as in Champions League T20 for the CSK franchise.
One of his most famous executions of the same remains the time when he launched Mumbai Indians legend Lasith Malinga over to his leg side in the Eliminator of the IPL 2012 season.
The ‘helicopter shot’ is a brutal hit employed by batters in a bid to combat even the fiercest of yorkers. In this shot, the batter hits a full-length delivery or a yorker by whipping the bat in a circular motion overhead after contact. Needless to say, the shot requires strong wrist-work.
Prashant Veer stars for CSK in maiden IPL season
Prashant Veer was nabbed by the CSK franchise to play the IPL 2026 season. Making his IPL debut, the bowling all-rounder received six opportunities in the playing XI under the leadership of Ruturaj Gaikwad.
With MS Dhoni being sidelined from the entire tournament owing to his injury concerns, Veer bludgeoned 90 runs in 67 balls across five innings at a prolific average of 45 and with a strike rate of 134.32. With the ball, the youngster managed to bowl just two overs and remained wicketless in his maiden season.
One of the latest sponsors of the ‘helicopter shot’, Prashant Veer will certainly hope to enhance the skill further when he gets reunited with MS Dhoni in the IPL 2027 season next year. That, of course, also depends if Dhoni’s body permits him to play cricket and if Veer indeed gets retained by the CSK franchise.
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