Dhoni

Ranchi, March 14: The prize catch of the IPL auction is again being bid for passionately.

This time it’s Ranchi’s Gossner College staking claim to its star student, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, lest the better known St Xavier’s lure him away.

Gossner, a minority institution affiliated to Ranchi University, still has the India ODI captain registered as a BCom (accountancy honours) student of the 1999-2002 batch.

“Technically, he is still our student since he is yet to take a college leaving certificate (CLC) or a transfer certificate,” said Sidharth Kumar Ecka, Gossner principal.

“We admit we never called him to complete his studies from our institution as we usually do with others. But we will now invite him to do so.”

Gossner’s anxiety stems from Dhoni’s alleged wish to study at Ranchi’s St Xavier’s College, an autonomous minority institution.

The star player is reported to have met St Xavier’s authorities and said he wanted to enrol for its BCom programme.

Gossner, governed by the Gossner Evangelical Lutheran Church, will use its connections to influence the cricketer.

“Our ex-student Chanchal Bhattacharya, a cricket coach in Ranchi, had introduced Dhoni to our college. Dhoni and our physical training instructor Anmol Khalko share a fine rapport, too. We’ll approach him through them,” a Gossner official said.

If Dhoni still chooses St Xavier’s, Gossner will not return the original copies of his school-leaving certificate and character certificate, issued by DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali.

“If he turns us down, as per college norms, we will give him a photocopy of his certificates along with a CLC,” Ecka said.

College games in-charge Anmol Khalko said Dhoni had been Gossner’s cricket captain for a short time.

He was admitted under the sports quota but, college authorities said, he would have made the cut anyway since he had scored over 57 per cent in his higher secondary exams.

Whether Dhoni used to attend his classes could not be ascertained since the attendance registers of that particular session could not be traced.

The slogan “We want Dhoni” reverberated across the college premises today.