JMM youth wing activists demolish the boundary wall around Dhoni’s plot in Harmu, Ranchi. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, March 18: Had Saturday’s shocker been played out in Ranchi, there wouldn’t have been many places for Mahendra Singh Dhoni to duck cricket fans.

On other occasions, a scoreless dismissal would have led to prayers. Not today, when protests over Saturday’s shocker were putting other Team India top guns in the firing line.

The boundary wall of a house Dhoni is building was damaged. The structure, in the town’s Harmu colony, is coming up on a plot gifted to the wicket-keeper by the Jharkhand government.

Brick-and-mortar backlash over, it was time for effigies to be burnt. Slogans like “pay attention to cricket instead of endorsing products” rent the air — once full of tales about Dhoni’s heave over the ropes. For once, it appeared as if the rear-guard warrior was on the ropes himself.

“Dhoni has no right to retain the plot. He should work either in advertisements or open a grocery shop,” said district vice-president of the Jharkhand Yuva Morcha Arun Kumar.

But Narendra, the cricketer’s elder brother, was unruffled. “We are safe. Such demonstrations take place when expectations aren’t fulfilled. We have taken it sportingly.” Brother-in-law Gautam Kumar agreed: “India hasn’t lost the Cup. People should have patience.” Security at the family’s Shyamali home was stepped up.

Ranchi wasn’t the only town seething. In Kanpur, effigies of Virender Sehwag were burnt.

In Jalandhar, protest marches against Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar didn’t spare local boy Harbhajan. Allahabad, home to Mohammad Kaif, wanted their local lad to replace Sehwag. In Indore, players’ posters were beaten with shoes and chappals.