It has been over a year since Captain Cool took to the pitch. 432 days to be exact. And since he announced his retirement from International cricket recently, we have been eagerly awaiting his return to the IPL. Well, Mahi gave us a huge surprise when he stepped onto the pitch yesterday for the Chennai Super Kings vs Mumbai Indians match — he sported a new sharp facial hairstyle. Tony Stark, much?

And this new look has been quite a drastic change from before. During the lockdown, fans caught a glimpse of Dhoni’s salt and pepper bearded look and instantly started a movement asking Mahi to #BreakTheBeard. Finally, their dear Thala heard the request and graced our screens with a new look!

#BreakTheBeard as a trend has been quite synonymous with IPL. In 2017, Ravindra Jadeja, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya took social media by storm by sporting some sharp styles and since then every year cricketers and other sportspeople have done their own rendition of #BreakTheBeard. It seems like this year Dhoni has decided to take part in it too.

Mahi has always been a trendsetter in the hair department, be it with his flowing locks or his (oft forgotten) mohawk. And this year, he might be hopping onto the #BreakTheBeard trend. We are sure Mahi fans will follow the trend too now.

And it’s not like the good people on the internet have missed this new look either. They seem to be loving it. 

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maahi muskura raha hai #ipl2020

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Easy to say, people are smitten. And he’s not the only one to have shaved his beard. If you saw the match, then you would’ve noticed that Mumbai Indians’ Suryakumar Yadav and Hardik Pandya were also sporting new looks. Hardik’s definitely taken his style game a notch higher with a moustache and soul patch! 

With Dhoni, Hardik and Suryakumar already sporting new looks, any guesses who will be the next to #BreakTheBeard?