Chennai Super Kings captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Friday reaffirmed his love for the Dr. YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium by edging out Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier match to take his team to the IPL finals for a record eighth time in the 10 seasons that it has played in.
The stadium was bathed in the yellow colours of the CSK, reflecting the strong fan following Dhoni commands in the city. The teams walked out to chants of ‘Dhoni, Dhoni’, with the crowd erupting in loud cheers soon after the CSK captain won the toss.
The stadium was reminiscent of a home away from home for the CSK as hundreds of yellow flags fluttered in the audience.
Dhoni, who has a 90% success rate at the stadium, continued his love affair by registering an emphatic win over DC.
Batting first, DC was restricted to 147 in 20 overs, thanks to disciplined bowling by the CSK bowlers, who were supported by some good fielding by their teammates.
Stadium sold out
Though this was the second match at the stadium in two days, tickets for Friday’s match were completely sold out with Dhoni being the prime factor.
“Dhoni is like a son of the soil for Vizagites. He loves the city and the stadium, and Vizagites love him dearly too,” said Janardhan, a cricket enthusiast.
Hundreds of people who were unable to get tickets for the match waited patiently outside the stadium to get a glimpse of their favourite cricketer.
“I went to the match only to see Dhoni. He lived up to his reputation of Captain Cool,” said Rashmi, a software engineer.
‘Unique relationship’
“No cricketer has enjoyed the sort of popularity in this city that Dhoni does. He has a unique relationship with this city indeed,” said A. Prasanna Kumar, former Rector of Andhra University and a cricket writer and commentator.
“On April 5, 2005, Sourav Ganguly was the captain when India was playing Pakistan at this stadium. Batting first, India was 26 for 1 after losing Sachin Tendulkar early. Ganguly then sprang a surprise by promoting Dhoni to the number three spot. With Sehwag on the other side, Dhoni scored his first century, a blistering 148 off 123 balls studded with 15 fours and four sixes. That innings was the turning point of his career and he has never looked back since,” Mr. Prasanna Kumar said.
CSK will now meet Mumbai Indians in the finals at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.
