Ticket collector back on board

Kolkata: The South Eastern Railway served a very special passenger on Tuesday night when its former employee Mahendra Singh Dhoni preferred to travel by train with his Jharkhand one-day cricket team from Ranchi to Howrah to participate in the Vijay Hazare Trophy here.

Rewinding the clock back to his struggle days in early 2000s when he was posted as a ticket inspector in Kharagpur, India’s most successful captain, Dhoni travelled in second-tier AC of 18616 Kriya Yoga Express.

Dhoni, who will lead Jharkhand in domestic one-dayers for the Vijay Hazare Trophy here, did not ask for any special service in his first train ride in more than 13 years.

“They (Jharkhand) did not have a special coach reserved for them and Dhoni travelled with his team and other co-passengers in 2AC,” South Eastern Railway chief public relations officer Sanjoy Ghosh said.

Before making the India team Dhoni was employed by SER as a TTE from September 2001 till July 2004 in Kharagpur, something that is well-documented in his biopic MS Dhoni, a blockbuster last year. The excitement for the World Cup-winning skipper was palpable as a relaxed-looking Dhoni shared a selfie with his millions of followers on the social network.