Hyderabad: World No.4 shuttler Kidambi Srikanth is a big fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and he was in for a pleasant surprise when he received a cricket bat signed by him from BCCI selection committee chairman MSK Prasad.
Srikanth, who was World No.1 recently, had asked Prasad for a gift from Dhoni. Srikanth’s father KVS Krishna was Prasad’s neighbour in Guntur while he was growing up and had in fact introduced him to cricket.
“Srikanth is the son of my childhood idol from Guntur who introduced me to cricket — Kittu babai (uncle). Being a big fan of M. S. Dhoni, Srikanth had one day asked me for a gift from the former Indian captain. I told him if he can reach the top level in badminton, then he would get his gift,” Prasad said after handing over the bat to Srikanth at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad on Saturday.
Prasad said when he told Dhoni about Srikanth’s desire, he was more than happy to oblige. “I have spoken to MSD about Srikanth’s wish. He was more than happy and told me that he himself is a badminton player and follows Indian badminton very closely. Then he sent the personally signed bat to my house as a gift to Srikanth,” he said.
