Gujarat police arrested the young man who breached security and entered the playing area at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad to touch MS Dhoni’s feet during the Gujarat Titans vs Chennai Super Kings match on Friday. According to police, the accused, identified as Jai Bharat, is a final-year BA student.
Ahmedabad ACP Digvijay Singh Rana told reporters on Saturday that a case of trespassing and illegal entry has been registered against the accused student.
“Yesterday, during the IPL match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings, a college student jumped onto the field and started running towards the pitch. There was a break during the match and the accused thought of meeting Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Constables present at the spot apprehended him,” ACP Rana said.
“In the preliminary investigation, we found that he had no other intentions. A case has been registered against him for trespassing and illegal entry during the match,” he added.
The incident happened in the last over of the match when a GT went for a DRS against Dhoni, who was batting against leg-spinner Rashid Khan. When the third umpire was looking at replays to come to a conclusion, the young man ran into the field. Dhoni saw that and made a fake attempt to run away from the young man but stopped midway.
The man approached Dhoni and bowed to his feet. The CSK legend picked him up and was seen giving him a hug. The security personnel than ran in and Dhoni was even seen trying to protect the man from being manhandled.
Recapping the match, CSK elected to field first after winning the toss. Sudarshan (103 in 51 balls, with five fours and seven sixes) and Gill (104 in 55 balls, with nine fours and six sixes) put on a 210-run opening partnership, which powered GT to 231/3 in their 20 overs.
Tushar Deshpande (2/33) was the pick of the bowlers for CSK.
In the run-chase, CSK was reduced to 10/3. Half-centuries from Daryl Mitchell (63 in 34 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) and Moeen Ali (56 in 36 balls, with four boundaries and four sixes) temporarily posed a threat to GT with a 109-run partnership. But after that, CSK lost wickets regularly and was restricted to 196/8 in their 20 overs.
Mohit Sharma (3/31) and Rashid Khan (2/38) were among the top bowlers for GT.
Gill was given the ‘Player of the Match’ award.