There is a case to say that but for a young MS Dhoni being persuaded to set aside his ambitions as a goalkeeper in football to focus on cricket – the catalyst for a remarkable career captured in a Bollywood biopic – India and England might not be playing a Test match in his native Ranchi this week.
This is slightly over-egging things, the locals say. While the state of Jharkhand and its cricket association were formed at the turn of the century, the handsome 39,000-seater ground built 12 years ago owes plenty to the late Amitabh Choudhary, a prominent administrator from the city who, along with Dhoni, has a pavilion named after him.
