Mumbai: The crowd went absolutely wild, as the ever-so-familiar muscular figure emerged from the dressing room of the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai, on Tuesday.
Ambati Rayudu may have just scored a century, but all the applause was for this muscular figure, who calmly walked into the outfield after giving the former a congratulatory handshake.
More than 20,000 people who were present at the iconic Mumbai venue broke into a unanimous chant, that ushered-in memories of the fateful afternoon at the Wankhede when the legendary Sachin Tendulkar walked out onto the pitch for his last hurrah in 2013.
“Dhoni! Dhoni! Dhoni!”
The former India captain however, in his characteristic way, simply walked onto the pitch without much ado.
The only difference between Wankhede 2013 and Brabourne Stadium 2017 is that Dhoni has not retiring from cricket altogether yet. He was merely playing his last match as the captain in India colours – a match that happened to be a practice game between India A and England.
Enter MSD! CCI deafening and rise to welcome @msdhoni to the crease. pic.twitter.com/xq4mgqGeNb
— BCCI (@BCCI) January 10, 2017
Dhoni went on to smash a brilliant 68 off 40 balls in the innings, helping India A reach a massive score of 304 from 50 overs. His innings was strewn with eight boundaries and a couple of sixes.
Dhoni's innings truly had everything – even a streaker – which goes to show the kind of fan following the former India captain has, not just in Mumbai, but all over the country.
Before the start of the match in Dhoni’s last game as captain in the Indian colours, he was felicitated by CCI for his contribution towards the Indian cricket.
