Ranchi, Mar 14:
An image of Mahendra Singh Dhoni playing drums and shaking legs had made a lasting impression here during the opening of the venue, but about four years later when the city becomes India’s 26th Test centre, the mood is strikingly sombre.
When Ranchi makes its Test debut in India’s series-defining third cricket Test against Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in two days time, the most famous son of city will be busy leading his state in the in the domestic one-dayers in Delhi.
Having shed his ‘whites’ to prolong his career in shorter formats of the game in late 2014, the most famous son of the Ranchi is currently in New Delhi as his team play Vidarbha in the quarter finals of Vijay Hazare Trophy tomorrow.
The intense build-up to the Ranchi Test, notwithstanding, Dhoni is certainly going to be missed, something that is evident from empty ticket counters in the city.
“It’s all because of Dhoni that we’re able to host our first Test match here. His rise has put the city in international map. But at the moment, we want him to do well in New Delhi. At the same time, we hope Ranchi becomes lucky for Team India,” Dhoni’s childhood coach Keshav Banerjee said.
The association has distributed free passes to schools and institutions, including Dhoni’s alma mater Jawahar Vidya Mandir at Shyamali as the secretary said every day about 10,000 students will turn up.
“Dhoni is the only icon here. Certainly the crowd will miss him during the historic occasion. But we are trying our best to fill in the stands. We expect to see at least 30,000 in attendance each day,” Jharkhand State Cricket Association (JSCA) secretary Debashis Chakraborty told PTI of the 40,000-capacity stadium at Dhurwa in the south-western outskirts of the city.
If not a grand cultural programme that marked the inauguration of the stadium on the eve of the India-England one-dayer on January 18, 2013, the state association had originally planned a felicitation for Dhoni.
But Jharkhand’s fine fortunes in the Vijay Hazare Trophy played a spoilsport.
“Our team is in a crucial stage (in domestic one-dayers), and we want Dhoni to return with the Vijay Hazare Trophy,” he said. (PTI)
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