In a never seen atmosphere, yellow fever gripped the Eden Gardens in support of talismanic MS Dhoni, who probably made his last appearance at the iconic venue while leading Chennai Super Kings to an emphatic 49-run win over hosts Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL in Kolkata on Sunday. KKR franchise had planted their purple flags in every seat of the 67,000-capacity stadium before the match began.
But once the spectators packed the stadium before the toss, all purple flags disappeared and it was a sea of yellow in support of Dhoni.
"I have played a lot of cricket over here. I had a job at Kharagpur which was two hours from here. The love comes from there," Dhoni said at the toss, overwhelmed by the response.
At the commentary, Ravi Shastri also endorsed the view: "It's the sea of yellow in Eden, tribute to one man. He's the King of East, it's MS Dhoni." There was however no official word from CSK that Dhoni was playing his last season for the franchise but the 41-year-old few days back has hinted that he is in the last phase of his career.
And as Ajinkya Rahane and Shivam Dube were going berserk in their 85-run stand, loud chants of "We want Dhoni" reverberated the Eden Gardens.
Some fans even carried playcards where it was written: "Dear Mahi, take my life and play 100 years more." Dhoni finally made a grand entry after the dismissal of Rahane with two balls left in CSK's innings.
All the fans greeted him by flashing their mobile phone cameras as he remained unbeaten on two from three balls.
The first ball he faced was a no ball from Kulwant Khejroliya.
"We want a helicopter shot," shouted the fans as he gave a big heave but could not connect.
Dhoni finally got off the mark in the last ball of the match with a thump to long-off.
Not just from the city, fans have arrived here all the way from Cooch Behar in North Bengal like Anita Harijan, who had come with her four-year-old daughter.
"I boarded the train on Saturday night. I stayed up all night in the general compartment. I finally came to Eden. I want to see Dhoni from the front," she said.
"It was a dream come true. I'm here to see him. Everyone in my family is Dhoni fan. We are here to support CSK." Another fan, Alka Patnaik had come to Eden with six friends from Odisha said: "We just wanted to see Mahi." Alka, who had CSK written on her cheek, smiled and said, "I came from Odisha to Kolkata to see Dhoni. I want to enjoy the KKR vs Chennai match with my friends. I won't take my eyes off Mahi for a moment." Such was the never-seen Dhoni fever that gripped Eden on Sunday.
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