Angered by the refusal of Grand Kakatiya Hotel in Hyderabad to allow him and his teammates to eat home-made biryani in the premises, Chennai Super Kings captain Dhoni led his entire team and support staff out of the hotel and shifted to another 5-Star hotel.
The incident occurred on Wednesday soon after Chennai Super Kings (CSK) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Champions league T20 match in Hyderabad. According to sources both in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Grand Kakatiya Hotel and Towers, the incident occurred when home-cooked biryani was sent by local Indian cricket team member Ambati Rayudu’s family to the CSK team staying at the hotel.
The management allowed the team members to eat the biryani in their rooms, but the players insisted on having the food in the boardroom of the hotel.
“Hotel rules do not allow that”, said an official at the hotel. “We don’t allow any outside food here, but we made a concession for them and allowed them to eat biryani in their rooms but they were adamant on eating it in the Board Room of the hotel”.
Dhoni was not ready to accept the hotel rules and led his team and support staff to the nearby Taj Krishna Hotel.Even BCCI officials, including BCCI chief N Srinivasan cancelled their bookings at Grand Kakatiya and moved to Taj Krishna. Grand Kakatiya had booked 180 rooms for the team and support staff.
The incident came to light after CSK left for Bangalore for another match. Ambati Rayudu was away in Rapur to play a match and had asked his family to send home-cooked Hyderabadi biryani for his teammates.Grand Kakatiya management confirmed that Dhoni and team vacated the hotel, but did not give any reason for the same. “Please ask the team members and management’, one PRO said.