In 2011, Mahendra Singh Dhoni fulfilled the dream of a billion people when he hit the six to seal India’s victory in the Cricket World Cup final against Sri Lanka. In honour of the then captain, the Maharashtra Cricket Association recently proposed to dedicate the seat, where the ball would have landed, to Dhoni by naming it after him.
Dhoni’s iconic six off Nuwan Kulasekara helped India win its second World Cup title by six wickets, 28 years after Kapil Dev’s team lifted the trophy in 1983. The captain scored an unbeaten 91 and was declared the man of the match.
The ball that was hit into the stands by the Indian captain on that momentous night, however, was not found.
After Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket last month, Ajinkya Naik, a member of the Mumbai Cricket Association Apex Council, wrote a letter, proposing that the seat where the ball would have landed be named after the former captain.
“As an act of gratitude and tribute to Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s immense contribution to Indian cricket, the MCA can devote a permanent seat on his name at the stand where his famous World Cup-winning six had landed,” read the letter Naik wrote to the governing body, as per the report in the Indian Express.
“We can find out the area where the ball landed—and which seat it was flying to—after Dhoni smashed it to win the 2011 World Cup.
“We can paint and decorate the seat in a unique way to celebrate Dhoni’s association with Wankhede Stadium… We can have a plaque on that seat with some special text to honour that moment,” the letter further read.
Legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, in the meantime, expressed his desire to help the MCA locate the ball. The former captain informed the MCA that the person who caught the ball at the Wankhede Stadium that night was someone a friend of his knew.
The seat has now been identified as seat number 210 in the L Block of the MCA Pavilion, with the person in possession of the ball, the IE report said.
The report said that the MCA could request Gavaskar to help them get in touch with the person who has ball. The spectator has reportedly kept the ball in a display case along with the laminated match ticket.
In India, the practice of naming or dedicating a single seat to honour cricketing greats has not caught on, with stands in stadiums usually zeroed in for the purpose. However, the tradition to name seats to cricketers is seen outside the country.
In 2015, Grant Elliot hit a six off Dale Steyn to help New Zealand reach the ICC World Cup final for the first time. A seat was named in Elliot’s honour, with the plaque at the seat reading, “Here Lies the Resting Place of Grant Elliott’s Mighty Six That Propelled the Blackcaps on March 24, 2015, into their maiden World Cup Final.”
The Big Bash League franchise Melbourne Renegade honoured former Australian cricketer Brad Hodge at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne in 2018. A three-tier seat where the six hit by Hodge, who was playing his last match, landed.
Dhoni is likely to be honoured in the same manner in what will be a first in India.
Apart from guiding India to its second World Cup title, Dhoni has also led the team to win the 2007 T20 World Cup and the 2013 Champions Trophy, making him the only captain to win all three ICC trophies.
