MS Dhoni to get permanent seat at Wankhede in memory of World Cup-winning six 12 years ago

The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to name Wankhede Stadium's seat, where MS Dhoni's World Cup-winning six against Sri Lanka on April 2, 2011, landed after the Indian legend. MCA president Amol Kale said that the spot where the ball landed has been identified and very soon, a permanent seat will be named after Dhoni.

"The MCA took a decision today (Monday) to name a seat inside the stadium after MS Dhoni. The spot will be where his match-winning six landed against Sri Lanka in the final of the 2011 World Cup. We will be requesting MS Dhoni to come to the stadium for the inauguration where he will also be presented with a memento, Kale said.

Apart from the Polly Umrigar and Vinoo Mankad Gates, the iconic Wankhede Stadium has stands named after Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, and Vijay Merchant. This will be the first time a



seat at the Wankhede will be named after a player in the entire country. However, the concept has been used a few times outside of India.

For the uninitiated, special seats have been dedicated to cricketers in Australia and New Zealand. Grand Elliot was honoured by New Zealand Cricket by naming a seat after him at Eden Park in Auckland, where the South African-born all-rounder hit a six off Dale Steyn to help secure the Black Caps' first-ever World Cup final appearance in 2015.

In Australia, a seat at the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground was painted yellow in 1993 to commemorate Simon O'Donnell's 122-meter six for Victoria against New South Wales. Brad Hodge of the Melbourne Renegades received a similar honour in 2018. To commemorate Hodge's 96-meter six in the Big Bash League, a third-tier seat at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium was painted red.