Miscellaneous news and discussion - 2

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Players' presence at charity match raises eyebrows
The presence of three members of India's one-day squad - the captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Zaheer Khan and RP Singh - at a private function in a Maharashtra town on Saturday has raised eyebrows over its clear departure from practice. The three cricketers attended, with the permission of the BCCI, the inauguration of a private cricket academy in Bhandara while the rest of the squad was in Indore for the second ODI in the series against England.
<b>There were also concerns over their security. PTI reported the cricketers played with locals, resulting in crowd surges. </b>
The academy is named after the father of union civil aviation minister Praful Patel, who belongs to the same political party as Sharad Pawar, the former BCCI president.
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<i>"There is nothing wrong in attending such a programme," Rajiv Shukla,</i>

MSD mobbed
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and two of his teammates managed to come out unscathed from a near stampede situation after an exhibition match in a remote town of Maharashtra, where they had gone to inaugurate a cricket academy.
<b>Hundreds of local fans, who gathered to have a glimpse of their heroes, rushed on to the ground posing a serious security hazard for the players and raising questions whether adequate security was in place.</b>
Dhoni and his two pacers — Zaheer Khan and RP Singh — went to Bhandara in Maharashtra to <b>inaugurate the academy, named after Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel’s father.</b>
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“There is nothing wrong to attend such a programme. It was for a charitable cause. They had taken prior permission and enough security measures were in place,” BCCI Finance Committee chairman Rajiv Shukla said.