The fifth row of the MCA pavilion stand inside the Wankhede stadium is where MS Dhoni’s celebrated six off Nuwan Kulasekara landed to end India’s 28-year-long wait for an ODI World Cup in 2011.
On Friday, Dhoni cut the ribbon in the presence of Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) officials on Friday to kick off the construction of a structure, spread across seats J 282-286, dedicated to that very special moment.
Flanked by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) officials and a gathering of people, the former India captain arrived for the ceremony before his team began training for the Mumbai Indians match on Saturday.
“I just saw the ball go,” he said when asked if the chosen spot was the right one.
The concept for the structure is for it to be a huge white ball over a holding stand that would have names of the entire Indian team that played in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka.
Later, Dhoni was also gifted a large framed photograph of him holding the pose after hitting the famous six - ‘finishing the match in style’ as Ravi Shastri had famously said during commentary.
{{/usCountry}}Later, Dhoni was also gifted a large framed photograph of him holding the pose after hitting the famous six - ‘finishing the match in style’ as Ravi Shastri had famously said during commentary.
{{/usCountry}}“The memorial will inspire all future generations of cricketers to try and chase their dream,” Ajinkya Naik, MCA secretary said.
“One seat will also be permanently named after MS Dhoni at the Wankhede stadium,” Amol Kale, MCA president added.
“Dhoni has been a great servant of cricket, not only in India but around the world. For him, long may it continue,” Kieron Pollard, rival and fellow competitor from the MI camp said on the eve of the MI-CSK clash. “Fortunately, or unfortunately wherever he goes, he has the home support. We saw that… wherever Tendulkar played he had that kind of support. Kudos to him, he deserves all the plaudits he gets.”