Team India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni's residence in Ranchi was turned into a fortress on Thursday after India lost the World Cup semifinal against Australia in Sydney.
At least 30 armed policemen guarded his Argora residence to prevent attacks by disappointed cricket enthusiasts who had attacked the house on such occasions earlier. The cops didn't allow disgruntled cricket fans to gather within a 20-foot radius of the residence. However, some of them didn't miss the opportunity to hurl expletives when stopped by the cops.
Dhoni's house had been attacked at least three times by cricket fans since it was constructed. One was when India lost against Bangladesh in the 2007 World Cup. The angry fans had demolished the walls of his under-construction house then. But no such incident was reported on Thursday.
Ranchi superintendent of police Jaya Rai attributed this to having made fool-proof security arrangements outside Dhoni's residence.
However, despite the loss, some of his ardent fans had reason to cheer as their favourite cricketer had made it clear during the post-match presentation on Thursday that he wasn't planning to retire from limited-overs cricket any time soon. During the World Cup, speculation was rife that the 33-year-old skipper may announce his retirement after the tournament.
Dhoni's school cricket team captain Sanjeev Kumar summed it up in a sporting manner. He said, "It's a sport and one team has to lose. India will win the T20 World Cup next year under his (Dhoni's) leadership and we are looking forward to the future tournaments."
Dhoni's coach Chanchal Bhattacharya said that India could have won the semifinal had any of the batsmen supported Dhoni on the pitch. He said he was happy with the team's performance as reaching the semifinals without a defeat was itself an honour.
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