A very different kind of fandom was witnessed on Sunday in Kolkata as the entire Eden Gardens stadium was painted yellow in the support of MS Dhoni, during the IPL 2023 match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders. The loud chants of Dhoni's name could be heard at every corner of the stadium as the Eden Gardens felt like another home ground for CSK. Amid this madness, one sweet message was captured during the match, which highlighted the amount of love the crowd has for the CSK skipper.
During the last over of CSK's innings, Ajinkya Rahane and Ravindra Jadeja were at the crease after the team had lost three wickets. Suddenly, the camera showed a fan with a placard that read, "Jaddu, can you please lose your wicket on the first ball? We want to see Mahi!"
This message clearly shows the pure intentions and love the fans have for the former India skipper as they cannot wait to see their star player in action. Notably, Jadeja was dismissed after scoring 18 off 8 balls, which invited Dhoni to the strike and he remained unbeaten on 2 runs off 3 balls.
Talking about the game, Ajinkya Rahane, whose T20 game has undergone a complete metamorphosis, smashed an eye-popping 29-ball-71 as Chennai Super Kings, buoyed by support from the capacity Eden Gardens crowd, out-batted Kolkata Knight Riders by 49 runs.
A transformed Rahane took Eden Gardens by storm with his sensational stroke-play which was complemented in equal measure by the muscular Shivam Dube (50 off 21 balls) and ever-consistent Devon Conway (56 off 40 balls) with CSK scoring an imposing 235 for 4 in 20 overs.
In reply, KKR were restricted for 186 for despite Jason Roy's 61 and Rinku Singh's 53 not out.
(With PTI Inputs)