Packed house to greet its hero

Since early on Wednesday, no private vehicles or taxis were allowed on the driveway leading to the departure lounge of the Birsa Munda Airport here.

Reason: The city’s most favourite son Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men along with the Sri Lankan counterparts were scheduled to land in the evening.

Given the modern-day security concerns, it is largely acceptable when the law-enforcing agencies go overboard.

But when Dhoni, the virtual ‘Brand Ambassador’ for small-town heroes in the country, lands in the city, those manning law and order in the city deem it more necessary than ever to make their presence felt in no uncertain measure.

This visit, unlike any other, could well turn out to be a momentous one for the locals.

On Friday, when Dhoni turns out in the city’s first T20 International, it could well be his last appearance for India at his home ground.

Looking to avenge the defeat suffered at Pune, Dhoni’s brigade would also like its unbeaten run at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium to continue.

A packed house of 40,000 spectators is set to back their ‘hero’ to play a decisive role in the much-anticipated series-levelling triumph.

Indeed, Dhoni, in his playing gear, is a rare sight in this part of the world.

In fact, he has not played a single first-class match here for Jharkhand since making his international debut with a one-dayer in December 2004.

By sheer coincidence, the last time India played here was against Sri Lanka in the fifth ODI in November 2014. But Dhoni was not part of the team that scored 288 to win by three wickets.

Therefore, should Dhoni decide to end his international career “preferably on a winning note” after the upcoming T20 World Cup, Friday’s match could well be recalled and remembered with a touch of nostalgia by the home fans.

Dhoni will also have in mind that the defeat at Pune, coupled with the loss in the 2014 World Cup final, meant that for the first time, India lost two successive T20 games to Sri Lanka.

A victory will also stretch India’s unbeaten record here having won ODIs against England and Sri Lanka.

Though trailing the world champion in the three-match series, India will still be the favourite on Friday.

With the pitch expected to be devoid of grass and ‘spongy’ bounce — unlike the playing surface seen in Pune — Dhoni would expect the team’s batting might to settle the contest.

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Anantapur court issues NBW against Dhoni

The judicial first class magistrate court on Friday issued a non bailable warrant against Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the case of complaint of hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus, originally filed in 2013.

The magistrate, taking into account that the accused Mahendra Singh Dhoni had not presented himself before the court inspite of summons being served on him, issued a non bailable warrant against the cricketer, who is in Australia now.

However, the other accused in the case, Business Today magazine Editor Chaitanya Kalbag, is yet to be served the summons, although the court had issued summons to both in October 2015.

On October 5, 2015, the judicial first class court at Anantapur, numbering a petition regarding the case, had issued orders for notices to be served on Mahendra Singh Dhoni and another accused in the case on a complaint that was filed in April 2013.

Originally, the case was filed by a Viswa Hindu Parishad activist Y. Shyam Sunder of Anantapur alleging that M.S. Dhoni and the editor of Business Today for having 'hurt his religious sentiments when he witnessed the cover page of the magazine' in which Dhoni was depicted as Lord Vishnu with each of his several hands holding products which he endorsed including a sports shoe.

The petitioner had urged the court to punish the accused under section 200 of the Criminal Procedure Code besides section 295A, 298 and 499 of the Indian Penal Code.

While the petition was admitted by the court then, it was later dismissed for default due to absence of the complainant.

Subsequently, the petitioner filed a revision petition seeking restoration of the petition, which the court accepted the same issued summons to which neither of the accused responded leading to the court issuing a bailable warrant.

The same was contested in the court by the accused's lawyer and the summons recalled in 2014, post which the court directed the petitioner to get prior sanction of the district collector or the appropriate state or central government authorities for being able to start criminal proceedings under section 295 A of the IPC, which attract, if found guilty, three years of imprisonment or fine or both.

However, to start proceedings under the second 295A, a prior sanction of appropriate authorities is required by law under section 196 (1) of the criminal procedure code.

While the District Collector was petitioned, the same was forwarded to the State Chief Secretary and subsequently sent to the Central Government to give necessary sanction.

With no sanction or rejection being communicated to the complainant, the complainant contested citing suitable precedents set by the Gujarat High court. He prayed to the Anantapur judicial first class magistrate court to direct the numbering of the case and issue of notices, as sanction of proceedings is deemed if no communication was sent to the complainant in a reasonable time frame.

While Dhoni is expected to present himself at the court on February 25, it is unlikely that Dhoni might actually turn up as he can approach the High Court or the Supreme Court asking them to direct the lower court to quash the petitions or make use of the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The lawyers representing Dhoni could petition the High Court seeking quashing of the Non Bailable warrants issued by the lower court under section 482 of the criminal procedure code.

In the same vein, Dhoni's lawyers could petition the judicial first class magistrate court to repeal the NBW's issued under section 70 (2) of CrPC.

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IPL: Pune in pole position to snare Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has never featured in a T20 franchise game for any other team than Chennai Super Kings. On Tuesday, Dhoni’s team for the next two editions will be finalised as the two new Indian Premier League franchises pick their marquee players.

Following the two-year suspension of the Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals after being found guilty of breaching IPL regulations, new franchises from Pune (owned by New Rising) and Rajkot (Intex) have been roped in for the next two editions.

To make it easier for the new team owners to build a team, the IPL regulations had offered five players from both the suspended teams to each new owner before the auction. The player draft is scheduled to be held here on Tuesday.

Since the Pune franchise, owned by Sanjeev Goenka, had bid the lowest amount, it will have the first right to quote its preferred player from the list of 50 players who were on the roster of the Super Kings and Royals.

Then on, both the owners will quote their preferred player from the list of cricketers, which includes some of the most ferocious T20 cricketers.

While Pune is all but set to grab Dhoni, Rajkot is likely to snatch Ravindra Jadeja, the hometown hero of the Kathiawari city. It remains to be seen if both team owners decide to retain the core of Super Kings and Royals or prefer to mix and match.

The draft, likely to be over in 15 minutes, has only one precondition: No team can pick more than four capped Indian cricketers. While Chennai has nine Indians who have earned an international cap, Royals’ pool includes five in the capped bracket.

As per the regulations, a combined amount of Rs. 39 crore will be reduced from each new team’s auction purse of Rs. 66.15 crore. A value of Rs. 12.5 crore, Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 7.5 crore, Rs. 5.5 crore and Rs. 4 crore, respectively, will be deducted for each of the five players snatched by the teams. Once both teams zero in on the 10 players’ names, the remaining 40 players will be included in the auction pool for the player auction to be held in February.

The Draft Procedure

50 players, 25 each from Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals, will be available to be signed pre-auction for both the teams.
Pune being the lowest bidder during the team bidding last week will have the first right to claim a player.
Both teams, on an alternate basis, will be able to sign five players from the pool of 50. The five players of each team will be valued at Rs. 12.5 crore, Rs. 9.5 crore, Rs. 7.5 crore, Rs. 5.5 crore and Rs. 4 crore each
Pune franchise is likely to get its hands on Mahendra Singh Dhoni while Rajkot owners are likely to prefer hometown boy Ravindra Jadeja.
No team can sign more than four capped Indian players.
Some of the top players available for the draft include Dhoni, Jadeja, R. Ashwin, Suresh Raina, Brendon McCullum, Faf du Plessis, Dwayne Bravo, Ajinkya Rahane, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, James Faulkner and Sanju Samson.

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