Pet tales: Meet cricketers' best friends!

MS Dhoni, India's World Cup-winning skipper, put it best when he said back in 2011: "I have three dogs at home. Even after losing a series or winning a series, they treat me the same way."

What have we done to deserve these good boys and girls?

Or even these beauties ...

Dale Steyn: "Home is where the biltong, beaches and dog-hair-covered sofas are."

But it's not always licks and cuddles. Pets have also been responsible for some freak injuries to cricketers! Remember when Quinton de Kock missed the 2016 Test against England at the Wanderers because he twisted his knee walking his cutest Jack Russel terriers?

Or when Rachael Haynes had to sit out of a match, having been bitten on the foot when she got into the middle of a fight between her cat Lily and a rival from the neighbourhood!

As animal lovers Virat Kohli and Peter Siddle say, 'adopt, don't shop!'