Dhoni effigy burnt in hometown after India out of Twenty20

RANCHI - Cricket fans in the Jharkhand capital Monday burnt Indian cricket captain and city boy Mahendra Singh Dhoni in effigy to protest India’s exit from the ICC Twenty20 world cup following successive defeats in matches against the West Indies and England.

Around 50 cricket fans, mostly youth, gathered near Siddo Kanhu park and shouted slogans against Dhoni.

The protesters also burnt Dhoni in effigy. “Dhoni took the T20 world cup lightly. It seems Dhoni is more fascinated by glamour world instead of cricket,” said Shyama Kumar, one of the protesters.

Another protester Ravi Kumar said they were “shocked and disappointed” at the way India played in the tournament. “India should have taken a lesson from Australia which failed to get place in Super 8,” he said.

Police patrolling near the under-construction house of Dhoni at Harmu road in the city has been beefed up. There were fears that angry fans could also attack it, like 2007 when India was ousted from the world cup. The protesters had demolished the boundary wall, but after India’s victory in the Twenty20 tournament the same year, cricket fans had come to rebuild the wall.