MS Dhoni has been in focus ever since Indian team arrived in Ranchi for the third one-day international against Australia. The reason behind this euphoria is that Ranchi is the hometown of the former Indian captain, and this is likely to be his last international match for India on his home ground.
JSCA has named a stand after him on the ground, which will now be known as 'Dhoni Pavilion'. However, Dhoni rejected the request to inaugurate the stand as he feels this is his home and there is no need for a inauguration.
India won the toss and chose to bowl first and Australia batted brilliantly to set up a target of 314 in what is a do-or-die game for the visitors. Australian captain, Aaron Finch (93) and Usman Khawaja (104) added 193 runs for the first wicket. India had a poor day in the field but the bowlers made a decent comeback to restrict Australia to 313/5 after they seemed set for 340-350.
Dhoni's magical glovework ensured the run out of Glenn Maxwell just when he was beginning to cut loose and that was a turning point in the innings. Kuldeep picked up three wickets after getting a bit of tap earlier.
India's top order has failed to deliver in the series, and the story continued in Ranchi as well. Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Ambati Rayudu failed to make an impact again and India lost three wickets with just 27 runs on the board.
This is when Dhoni arrived at the crease and his fans gave a thunderous welcome to one of the greatest cricketers produced by the nation. Dhoni could only score 26 runs tonight which will be of some disappointment to the fans who wanted to see him finish the game for India.
Here is the video of Dhoni's welcome at JSCA Stadium, Ranchi: