Arrest warrant issued against Dhoni

A local court in Anantapur district, Andhra Pradesh, has issued an arrest warrant against Mahendra Singh Dhoni after a complaint was lodged against the Indian skipper for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Hindus.

The arrest warrant was issued after Dhoni failed to appear before the court despite three summons. The court directed the police to present Dhoni before it on July 16th. The case refers to a picture on the cover of 'Business Today' in its April 2013 edition.

Dhoni was portrayed as the Hindu God 'Vishnu' with a sub-title named 'God of Big Deals' and holding products of several companies including a shoe in his hand.

A local Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) member, Y Shyam Sundar, had filed the petition at a court in Ananthpur in February this year saying Dhoni had hurt the religious sentiments of millions of Hindus by denigrating a god revered by them. The court took up the matter on Tuesday, and ordered the arrest warrant against the Indian captain as he had failed to reply to the summons. Similar petitions have been filed against Dhoni in Delhi, Pune and other cities.

This day, last year: Dhoni wins all ICC trophies

The 2013 Champions Trophy staged in England saw MS Dhoni and India create history. Before the start of the tournament, no one had given this team a chance. They had lost eight consecutive overseas Tests and had just lost a Test series at home against England for the first time in 28 years. Moreover, they were coming back to a country where they failed to win a single international match in 2011.

However, heading into the tournament, India displayed a new vigour. They shot out Australia for 65 in a warm-up match in Cardiff while they chased down a 300-plus score against Sri Lanka in another warm-up match. With their confidence sky high, India headed into the first group game against South Africa and new opening duo of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma put on a 127-run stand. Dhawan notched up his century and India finished on 331/7. The Indian bowlers, backed up their fielders, backed the effort of the batsmen as they won the match by 26 runs. They displayed the same tenacity in the match against the West Indies and they finally achieved their first victory in the Champions Trophy against Pakistan in a rain-truncated match.

Heading into the semi-final undefeated, they squared off against Sri Lanka in wet conditions in Cardiff. The Indian bowlers put in a disciplined show in overcast conditions and the duo ofVirat Kohli and Dhawan chased the small target of 181 in a canter. In the final against England at Edgbaston, there was drama from the start till the end.

With rain pounding Edgbaston at regular intervals, the match was in danger of been washed out and it seemed India would share the Champions Trophy with another team for the second time. The ICC extended the cut-off time by one hour and in a literal sense, it was touch and go. The weather relented and the match was a 20-over shootout.

India were buoyed by an aggressive 43 from Kohli but Ravindra Jadeja boosted the team at the end with an unbeaten 33 off 25 balls as India reached 129/7. England needed 28 off 18 balls and Ishant Sharma, who had gone for a few runs, started off with a six and two wides and it seemed all was lost. However, he snapped up Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan in the same over to get India back in the game. Jadeja and R Ashwin held their nerve as India sealed a tense five-run win to give India their first Champions Trophy.

History was created in the process. Dhoni became the first captain to win all three ICC trophies while India became the second team after the West Indies to win all ICC tournaments. Dhawan was given the golden bat for scoring the most runs in the tournament while Jadeja won the golden ball and the Man of the Match award for taking the most wickets. Amidst the gloom, India had achieved something spectacular.