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Dhoni fanfare overtakes main event

Big Picture

Chirkunda is a small border town in Dhanbad district of the Indian state of Jharkhand, where a future national icon came to play a local tennis-ball cricket tournament in the late 1990s. There are hundreds of towns like Chirkunda across Jharkhand, which has mostly made the news for Maoist unrest and political instability. And many people from many such towns will feel pride in the story of a boy from their capital Ranchi, who rose and rose from anonymity.

That boy, MS Dhoni, now returns to his hometown as India captain, World Cup winner, to play in Ranchi's first ODI. To say that Ranchi is an emotional place right now is an understatement. And it is not an overstatement to say that Ranchi gets whatever attention it does mostly because it produced Dhoni.

For the moment, between Ranchi and Dhoni, the series itself has taken a bit of a backseat. England, of course, will know that their bowlers have taken a battering, a good part of it from Dhoni himself, in both the previous ODIs in Rajkot and Kochi. While their batsmen managed to just outdo India's in the first ODI, they fell woefully short in the second, against swing and spin alike. The Kochi loss bore traces of the old England and why they have lost 17 of their previous 20 ODIs in India - unable to control the rampaging home batsmen and unable to tackle the sticky local conditions.

England already know that this is not exactly the India side of old, which was extremely difficult to overcome on home soil. The personnel, especially the batsmen, might not have changed drastically, but times certainly have for Dhoni and his team.

MS Dhoni will have the chance to demonstrate his hitting in front of a home crowd in Ranchi's first ODI © BCCI

Form guide

(Most recent first)
India WLWLL
England LWLWW

In the spotlight

Thousands lined the route from the Birsa Munda airport to the team hotel in Ranchi to catch a glimpse of MS Dhoni, who has said he wasn't expecting such a tremendous reception, and felt "humbled". Dhoni is one of the very few India cricketers to come somewhat close to Sachin Tendulkar in terms of popularity and adulation, as well as in his ability to shut himself off from it all. There is no doubt he could feel overwhelmed when he walks out to the middle in the city he grew up in. There is also no doubt that he won't allow his game to be affected by the emotions of the thousands who will be screaming out his name from the stands.

Kevin Pietersen is in some form. His magnificent 186 on a Mumbai turner proved that last November and the way he walked down the pitch and hit balls from off to leg in Rajkot and Kochi reinforces the case. But both those knocks have been terminated in the forties. Pietersen can't be denied for too long.

Team news

Tim Bresnan missed the Kochi ODI with a niggle and, if fit, should return in place of Chris Woakes. Will England persist with Jade Dernbach? The fast bowler got the wicket of Dhoni in Rajkot and had kept India in check in the batting Powerplay before he and his bag of variations fell apart at the death.

England (possible) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Ian Bell, 3 Kevin Pietersen, 4 Eoin Morgan, 5 Joe Root, 6 Craig Kieswetter (wk), 7 Samit Patel, 8 Tim Bresnan, 9 James Tredwell, 10 Jade Dernbach/Stuart Meaker, 11 Steven Finn

Amid all the local excitement, Dhoni was hit on the right thumb while batting against the bowling coach Joe Dawes in the nets. That was the end of his practice as he received ice treatment, but he is expected to be fit to play. With Shami Ahmed not doing badly at all in the four overs he got in Kochi, India can be expected to stick to a winning combination.

India (possible) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Ajinkya Rahane, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MS Dhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Shami Ahmed.

Pitch and conditions

The Jharkhand State Cricket Association stadium has hosted just two first-class games, both of which were drawn. The curator has been quoted as saying he expects the side batting first to make around 350 on the "sporting wicket". Winter has started to wind down in the east of the country, with Jharkhand experiencing milder weather over the past few days. The curator does not expect dew to be a major factor. A light drizzle is forecast for later in the evening.

Stats and trivia

• Before Rajkot, the last time England beat India in India in an ODI was in April 2006, in Ranchi's neighbouring city of Jamshedpur.
• Ranchi will become India's 42nd ODI venue.

Quotes

"Very high marks, let's say nine out of ten. I haven't given a perfect ten because even the best can be improved ... the good players can become even better, so also stadiums and facilities."
MS Dhoni rates the new stadium in his hometown

Abhishek Purohit is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo

Press Trust of India

Ranchi:  First he became a drummer, then did an impromptu jig as Mahendra Singh Dhoni enthralled one and all in a different avatar during the inauguration of the newly constructed JSCA Stadium here on Friday.

"Personally, it's a special moment for me. The journey begins tomorrow. It's the beginning of a new innings," Dhoni said in his speech.

Offered the drum by troupe leader Nandlal Nayak, Dhoni, normally a reserved person, readily put the sling around him as the Indian captain joined other 179 drummers who were dressed in warrior style that marked the one-hour inauguration ceremony.

Dressed in a white jacket and a pair of blue denims, Dhoni looked relaxed as he was accompanied to the venue, adjacent to the cricket stadium, by his wife Sakshi.

Addressing the gathering, Dhoni thanked the efforts of the people involved in constructing the stadium which began on June 19, 2009.

Dhoni said the cricket venue would put Ranchi in world map and the Jharkhand capital would need no introduction from now onwards.

"When I first joined the team, people were asking me the place I belonged to. I used to say I am from India and the next thing I would say I am from a place called Ranchi in Jharkhand. I used to explain Ranchi giving various routes like it is a place closer to Kolkata, near Jamshedpur. We are the richest state in natural resources."

"But, after the stadium was built it has now become an international venue. At least, we need not have to explain further about Ranchi in the cricket playing nations," he said proudly.

"It is a proud beginning; proud moment for people of Jharkhand. Now we are looking forward to a lot of support from the people tomorrow. I would like to thank each and everyone who have contributed in the making of the stadium. Now its up to the people of Jharkhand to make tomorrow's game very special," Dhoni concluded.

Describing it as a remarkable piece of work, BCCI supremo N Srinivasan said,"It will now become the pride of this region. I'm very happy for Dhoni who captains the team in all the three formats and also is the skipper of my favourite IPL team (Chennai Super Kings)."

ECB chairman Giles Clarke was also present along with his wife as he termed this an outstanding venue.

"We are really thankful for getting the opportunity to play the first match here," Clarke said.

Earlier state governor Syed Ahmed jointly inaugurated the venue along with BCCI supremo Srinivasan.

The stadium complex houses two tennis courts, an indoor cricket academy, an under construction swimming pool besides the main cricket ground with 39,000 seating capacity.

ICC Team Rankings

ICC Test Championship		As on : 14-Jan-2013
S#	Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1.	South Africa	32	3965	124
2.	England	41	4825	118
3.	Australia	42	4916	117
4.	Pakistan	29	3148	109
5.	India	37	3879	105
6.	Sri Lanka	36	3318	92
7.	West Indies	31	2809	91
8.	New Zealand	30	2333	78
9.	Bangladesh	15	0	0
ICC ODI Championship		As on : 18-Jan-2013
S#	Team	Matches	Points	Rating
1.	South Africa	18	2170	121
2.	England	27	3249	120
3.	India	35	4109	117
4.	Sri Lanka	38	4230	111
5.	Australia	31	3442	111
6.	Pakistan	31	3311	107
7.	West Indies	25	2206	88
8.	Bangladesh	21	1636	78
9.	New Zealand	20	1434	72
10.	Zimbabwe	14	700	50
11.	Ireland	6	207	35
12.	Netherlands	4	63	16
13.	Kenya	4	45	11
ICC T20 Championship		As on : 28-Dec-2012
S#	Team	Matches	Points	Rating	Qualify Match
1.	Sri Lanka	12	1524	127	15
2.	West Indies	13	1585	122	17
3.	India	15	1789	119	18
4.	England	16	1891	118	22
5.	South Africa	16	1868	117	21
6.	Pakistan	20	2324	116	28
7.	Australia	15	1615	108	20
8.	New Zealand	16	1563	98	21
9.	Bangladesh	8	668	84	11
10.	Ireland	8	659	82	12
11.	Zimbabwe	7	306	44	10