On the 23rd of March, it was difficult to say whether the IPL match between Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders was taking place in Eden Gardens or MA Chidambaram Stadium. One would expect that if KKR is playing at Eden Gardens, thousands of fans will appear in the iconic purple jersey to support their home team. But this time, the stadium was painted yellow.
That’s because Mahendra Singh Dhoni was playing on the field. No matter which city one belongs to, the love for Dhoni in this country is unparalleled. Hence, innumerable people in Kolkata showed up for the match wearing the CSK jersey and held up messages of love and support for the star cricketer.
“I will just say thanks for the support, they came in big numbers. Most of these guys will come in a KKR jersey next time. They are trying to give me a farewell, so thanks a lot to the crowd,” Dhoni said in an interview after the match, in which CSK defeated KKR.
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According to India Today, a fan named Shivam Kundu had travelled 450 km from Bhubaneshwar just to see Dhoni play. He said, “We stay beside Kolkata, but we will support CSK only for MSD.”
However, there were some people who expressed their disappointment over the people of Kolkata who, instead of supporting their home team, showed up in yellow jerseys and cheered for CSK instead. One such person’s post has been going viral on Facebook which has a picture showing how the colour yellow dominated Eden Gardens.
This is the picture that he shared:
“There’s some serious problem with the people of Bengal. They don’t support Bengali cinema and Bangla content. They don’t support KKR. The Eden Gardens today looks like chepauk! I love Dhoni too. And I would too want him to play. But I wouldn’t support CSK,” he wrote.
While many people expressed their disappointment as well, there were others who left legit reasons why this happened. Here’s a look at some of the reactions:
Kolkata knows how to honour legends!