England braced for trial by spin in make-or-break fourth India Test

Tourists arrive in MS Dhoni’s backyard hoping for the kind of response to back-to-back defeats they found in last year’s Ashes

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.

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