It’s no secret that Vizag is a favourite haunt for Team India as it has won most of its matches. The ACA-VDCA ground has been the favourite of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as it was the match here that changed his career. He scored his first international century against arch-rival Pakistan in 2005 when he was promoted up the order by the then skipper Sourav Ganguly.
After 13 years, on Wednesday, Dhoni will face history once again when India take on the Windies at the same cricket stadium for the second match of the ongoing ODI series. Incidentally, the game in which Dhoni had belted 148 was also the second in the series against Pakistan.
On the eve of the match, Dhoni inspected the pitch at the venue along with teammate Ambati Rayudu. He spent some time on the ground and spoke with the curator and ground staff for a long time.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has posted pictures of the 37-year-old inspecting the pitch in Vizag and described him as “the KING”.
The KING is here!
This ground and the city of Visakhapatnam has a special bond. Memories aplenty. Let's create plenty more tomorrow. #TeamIndia #INDvWI pic.twitter.com/WfTSMvQh7x— BCCI (@BCCI) October 23, 2018
Dhoni inspecting the pitch before a match and speaking with the ground staff is not something new for those who have covered Indian cricket over the past decade. His ability to stay calm and positive ahead of the biggest of matches is what has made him one of the greatest cricketers of modern times.
The former India captain would now hope that this pitch has a lot of runs stored in it and he gets an opportunity get some of those runs under his belt on Wednesday to silence his critics again.
Dhoni has so far scored 240 runs from 4 innings at the venue with an average of 80 and has maintained healthy strike-rate of 107.62. He has a century and half-century to his name at Vizag.
