Published 20:07 IST, January 19th 2020
'Dhoni Dhoni' to 'Rahul Rahul': Virat Kohli persuades Chinnaswamy stadium to change chant
A section of the Bengaluru crowd started 'Dhoni' chants after KL Rahul's missed opportunity behind the stumps during the series-deciding third ODI on Sunday
MS Dhoni has been on a sabbatical break from the game ever since India's ouster in the World Cup 2019 semi-final but it seems that the Indian cricket fans are missing the legendary cricketer. It was evident during the first ODI between India and Australia at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai especially after KL Rahul's missed opportunity behind the stumps.
Rahul, who is a makeshift wicket-keeper in place of Rishabh Pant who has been ruled out of the ongoing series due to a concussion once again bore the brunt of the Bengaluru crowd during the series-decider on Sunday.
Bengaluru crowd chant 'Dhoni', Kohli intervenes
This took place during the first innings after Australian skipper Aaron Finch had won the toss and elected to bat. It so happened that Steve Smith was completely outfoxed by a brilliant delivery from Kuldeep Yadav. Even though he was completely beaten, the ball also managed to outsmart KL Rahul behind the stumps as he could not stop the ball and it raced away to the boundary.
Reportedly, certain sections of the fans started chanting 'Dhoni-Dhoni'. However, the tables turned in no time as they started chanting 'Rahul-Rahul'. All this happened after Indian skipper Virat Kohli had intervened. After that, the batting megastar pointed towards Rahul to prove the crowd wrong.
'Dhoni Dhoni' chants echo at Wankhede
The Indian bowlers, who are considered to be one of the best bowling line-ups in the world, took a merciless beating from both Finch and Warner as they failed to find any potential breakthrough. To add to their misery, stand-in wicketkeeper KL Rahul missed some opportunities behind the stumps, forcing the crowd at Wankhede to chant 'Dhoni Dhoni' instinctively. Once again, the Captain Cool's absence from the side could be felt as fans felt there were multiple opportunities that could have been used to get rid of the unstoppable duo of Warner-Finch but failed to do so. To make matters worse for India, their first-choice wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant did not come out to keep in the 2nd innings after he suffered a concussion after being hit on the helmet in the 1st innings. Many fans took to share the video of the crowd chanting Dhoni's name on social media.
Updated 20:07 IST, January 19th 2020