The opening round of the T20I series between India and New Zealand is underway at lunch, with local boys on the Indian side in attendance at the JSCA International Stadium Complex to support legendary Indian skipper MS Dhoni.
After a sensational clean victory over New Zealand in his 3-game series at home, India are now under the leadership of Hardik Pandya to get off to a winning start in the first game of the 3-game series. I’m trying to keep this up. Blackcap led by T20I von Mitchell Santner. The opener is underway at lunch and his MS Dhoni, a local boy and legendary Indian skipper, is present at his JSCA International Stadium complex to support the Indian team.
During New Zealand’s innings, cameras caught Dhoni sitting in the stands with his wife Sakshi. He waved at the audience with a wide smile on his face as he kept the camera pointed. And the Ranchi audience had a breathtaking response. They quickly burst into chants of “dhoni” and the former Indian cricketer smiled once more.
Earlier Thursday, BCCI shared a clip of Dhoni meeting his team’s India players in the dressing room before the game at lunch.
“It’s good that Mahi Bai is here and we can meet him. We can also leave the hotel (to see him). Otherwise, the way we’ve been doing it over the past few months, we’re just traveling from hotel to hotel…and when we meet, we try to talk more about life than games. I learned a lot from him when we played together. I’ve squeezed a lot of knowledge out of him and he doesn’t have much left,” Pandia later told reporters at the pre-match conference.
Speaking of the match, India won the toss and chose to roll first. India did not pick Yuzvendra Chahal, Jitesh, Mukesh and Prithvi Shaw for the series opener.