Fans travel 2500 kms to hand 'Dhoni Bhaiya' a letter

03/17/2017

MS Dhoni has an ardent fan following in South India, but three brothers from Chennai took their love for the former Indian captain to a whole new level. Akash, Chandru, and Praveen made the 2500 km Chennai-Delhi trip to see Dhoni play in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and him a handwritten letter.

Since the inception of the Chennai Super Kings franchise, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has garnered a strong fanbase in Chennai by captaining the IPL franchise during its existence. Even though the franchise no longer exists, Dhoni’s fans in Chennai still do. Recently three enthusiastic fans from Chennai traveled all the way to Delhi in the hope of meeting their idol.

On the day of the incident, Dhoni would have seen the three brothers hanging from the iron fence with two makeshift placards, made with chart paper, chanting his name when the Jharkhand were bowling.

Akash, one of the three brothers told Indian Express, “We are here to meet Dhoni. All three have traveled for more than 2,500 km and have been in Delhi since the last four days just to meet Dhoni bhaiya. He (pointing at one of his brothers) even took leave from his job just to meet our idol, our hero.”

Clearly, Dhoni’s popularity hasn’t faded one bit down south, despite the Chennai Super Kings serving a two-year ban. The two placards read, “We are from Chennai” and “Want to meet u MS Dhoni.”

The trio had been unsuccessful in their attempts to meet Dhoni for the past year and were looking to amends this time around. They weren’t deterred by the lack of shade offered by the trees they stood under. They had been traveling on a tight budget in their quest to meet Dhoni and Akash decided to take the extreme step on what would have been his last afternoon in the capital. Akash and his brothers Chandru and Praveen had come to watch Dhoni’s team train on the eve of the match and even left a letter for Dhoni with the team bus driver. However, Akash decided to take the matter in his own hands because he wasn’t sure if the letter would reach Dhoni.

Just after Dhoni hit a six that sealed the game in Jharkhand’s favor, Akash jumped the fence and ran towards Dhoni. He was the third intruder of the game, (the first was when Dhoni walked in to bat and the second was when Dhoni was batting). But unlike his predecessors, Akash’s motive wasn’t Dhoni autograph. He touched Dhoni’s feet, upon reaching his idol and handed him a handwritten envelope and told Dhoni “’I have come from 3,000 kms away." Dhoni, being the gentleman that we know he is, responded by saying ‘3,000 kms. Really.’

I just took his blessings and not the autograph as the policemen grabbed me. My motive was served as I desperately wanted to share our feelings with Dhoni bhaiya,” Akash said this after being released by the police.

And though Akash received a few heavy blows from the police for his antics, his hopes weren’t dampened. And after dramatically explaining the sequence of events that took place, Akash had a smile of relief on his face when he learned that his hero was still inside.

As the brothers prepare to head back to Chennai they still continue to harbor hopes of meeting 'Dhoni bhaiya' when he returns to the Chennai Super Kings next year. "Dhoni bhaiya will be back to Chennai (Super Kings) next year. We will continue to try and meet him.”

Fans travel 2500 kms to hand 'Dhoni Bhaiya' a letter

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