Coming soon at Wankhede Stadium: A seat named after MS Dhoni

Twelve years ago, MS Dhoni sealed India’s World Cup triumph with a six over long-on at the Wankhede Stadium, ending the country’s 28-year wait for the title. Now, the seat where the ball landed is set to be immortalised.
The Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) has decided to name the seat after the former India captain, who took India past the finish line in the final against Sri Lanka with his trademark helicopter shot off Nuwan Kulasekara’s bowling. The ball landed in the MCA Pavilion.
MCA president Amol Kale told The Indian Express 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.
The MCA is hoping to inaugurate the ‘memorial’ when Chennai Super Kings (CSK) travel to Mumbai for their IPL match at the Wankhede Stadium on April 8. In 2020, then MCA Apex Council member Ajinkya Naik proposed the same idea. However, it wasn’t passed the Council back then.

The iconic Wankhede Stadium has stands named after Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar and Vijay Merchant, apart from the Polly Umrigar and Vinoo Mankad Gates.
This will be the first time that a seat will be named after a player not just at the Wankhede but in the whole country. Outside India, however, the idea has been implemented a few times.
In 1993, at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a seat in the Great Southern Stand has been painted yellow to commemorate Simon O’Donnell’s 122-metre six for Victoria over New South Wales. In 2018, the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne painted a third-tier seat red to honour Big Bash League franchise Melbourne Renegade’s Brad Hodge, who hit a 96-metre six in what was his last match before retiring.
Elsewhere, at Eden Park in Auckland, New Zealand Cricket decided to honour former all-rounder Grand Elliot naming a seat after him. Elliot hit a six off South African Dale Steyn’s bowling which secured New Zealand’s first-ever spot in the final of a World Cup back in 2015.