MS Dhoni's fan following has got no bounds. The former India captain called time on his international cricket career in 2020 and since that he has been available only for the Indian Premier League, playing for Chennai Super Kings. It means that the Dhoni fans have to wait for around ten months to see their favourite player in action. Despite the lack of appearance among fans in the past three-four years, Dhoni's craze has only increased with the passage of time. The study of the official TV broadcaster for IPL 2024 too backs this opinion with some unique data.
Star Sports has come up with the technology of calculating the crowd's noise levels at different junctures during the course of the tournament and Dhoni holds the top two spots.
As per the data, the top noise from the crowd is 130 Decibel which was attainted during Dhoni's entry into the MA Chidambaram Stadium before the toss for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Chennai Super Kings match, which happened to be the opening game of the ongoing tournament.
At the joint-second spot in the list is the moment when Dhoni smashed a four against Delhi Capitals in the 17th over. The crowd's noise peaked in the game at that moment with a record of 128 Decibel. Coming in at the 8th position in the match, this was the first time Dhoni batted in IPL 2024.
In the over of DC's Mukesh Kumar, Dhoni opened his account with a four. It was a short of length delivery and the former CSK captain hit it away towards the long-leg boundary. Dhoni ended up scoring 37 not out off 16 balls, albeit in a losing cause.
Another one at the second position in the list was Royal Challengers Bengaluru wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik's six against Punjab Kings in the final over of the game at Bengaluru.
Karthik had slammed Arshdeep Singh for a six over the fine leg fence in the tense chase. The crowd's noise was 128 Decibel during the game.