Dhoni dhoom in Chandigarh

CHANDIGARH: Indian Premier League (IPL), Captain Cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni is here! Such is the man's charisma that he easily overshadows a whole bunch of other cricketers in city for the Kings- XI Punjab vs Chennai Super Kings encounter scheduled for Wednesday. Having lifted the World Cup trophy, MSD has emerged as a darling of the masses, as is visible in the fan frenzy; they are more excited to see Dhoni in city than watch the IPL match. The madness to be on MSD's side of the planetis palpable as staunch supporters of KXIP are favouring the Chennai team, whichis captained by the Indian skipper. For the organizers, there could not havebeen a better kick-off for IPL-IV than this match. ''I am fromPunjab and want KXIP to win. But I am supporting Dhoni too as this is his firstmatch at PCA after lifting the World Cup. He has everything that takes to be achamp,'' said 19-year-old cricket lover, Rajat Sharma. For Dhoni,too, PCA would be special, given his team just recently defeated Pakistan herein the World Cup semi-final clash. And it is not only city residentswho are backing the captain. A family from England was seensquabbling for not being able to get a picture clicked with Dhoni at Taj hotelwhen the cricketer was leaving for practice session. ''I really like him andtried to get a family picture with him. But the snap was not very clear,'' saida disappointed Hama, the couple's daughter. ''Ever since Indiabecame world champions under his dynamic captaincy, my craze for MSD hasmultiplied,'' she added. A bunch of eager girls who wanted to meetDhoni said they were cheering for Chennai only because of the team's captain.''He's so stylish,'' one of them said chirpily. Fans who had failedto get tickets for the nail biting India-Pakistan semi-final match at PCA cannotbelieve their luck at being able to see the skipper in action.Mallika Khanna, a resident of Zirakpur and a Dhoni fan, said shecould not manage to get tickets for the semi-final but there was no way shewould miss the IPL match. Another young fan, Ashish Dogra, said hewas eager to get an autograph from the Indian captain, who had managed to repeathistory after a gap of 28 years. ''I will camp at the hotel andwon't leave without meeting him,'' he promised.