The chanting started immediately Yuvraj Singh lost his off stump to a beauty from James Tredwell. For the best part of a minute, as Yuvraj walked back towards the pavilion, the 40,000 who had been lucky enough to secure a ticket for the first one-day international in Ranchi implored their local hero, MS Dhoni, to promote himself above Suresh Raina in India's batting order, and have a bat on his home ground.
Dhoni has never seemed the sentimental type, any more than India's coach Duncan Fletcher. But the roar left no doubt that he had granted Jharkhand its wish, trotting down the pavilion steps in his blue cap, and it did not cease until he removed the cap to take guard against Tredwell. The game was already won, England having crumbled to their second-lowest total in a one-day international in India - three fewer than they had managed in Kochi last Tuesday - a double flop that their captain, Alastair Cook, admitted is unacceptable even for this inexperienced team. But who other than Dhoni to hit the winning runs?
He made the crowd wait, playing back three dots against Tredwell before punching Steve Finn back down the ground with such power that the ball still raced away for four after hitting the stumps at the bowler's end. Then, after helping himself to a couple of singles, Dhoni applied the fairytale finish by pulling Finn through square leg for four - off the first ball of the 29th over, a humiliating statistic for England. Virat Kohli had made a brilliant unbeaten 77 from 79 balls, but was completely overshadowed.
"I was sitting next to Raina and he said 'Why don't you go in?'" Dhoni explained. "I understand the fact that people want to see me bat so I said ok - it wasn't really looking as though I would get a chance to bat, but let me pad up and see. Then Yuvi got out. The response of the people was amazing - they have been very excited about this game, not just at the stadium but next to the hotel all week. The stadium was made in two and a half or three years so I think it was the perfect script."
Not for England, it wasn't, and they are left with much to ponder ahead of the fourth match of the series in Chandigarh on Wednesday, which is now a must-win. "We're going to have to look deeply in our dressing room, and produce a better performance in Mohali," Cook said.
They might consider dropping Kevin Pietersen down the order to no4, given the significant change of emphasis demanded by the new fielding regulations which place a greater importance on preserving wickets early in an innings and plundering runs late on. Joe Root again played well enough in top-scoring with 39 to suggest that he could fill in for Jonathan Trott at no3, although even he could not be spared criticism for the manner of his dismissal, chasing a wide one from Ishant Sharma with 13 overs of England's innings remaining.
Craig Kieswetter must now be close to being dropped altogether, after following a scratchy 18 in Kochi with a hapless dismissal here, sliding his bat along a curtain-rail to provide no defence against Ravindra Jadeja's skiddy straight-on delivery. Samit Patel went lbw in similar fashion in the same over to leave England doomed at 98 for six, but he has more credit in the bank from earlier in the series.
Dropping Kieswetter now would represent a major rethink for England, having clearly included him in their plans for the Champions Trophy in the summer. But his Somerset team-mate Jos Buttler is desperate for a chance on the remainder of this tour, and Matt Prior is waiting in the wings.
Cook had started fluently after Dhoni chose to bowl on winning the toss, reflecting a general uncertainty about how the pitch at this new venue would play. But he fell lbw to Shami Ahmed's inswing as he tried to hit to leg, setting the pattern that would stymie the England innings - each of the top five made double figures then fell trying to force the pace.
Pietersen seemed unlucky, with replays suggesting he had been incorrectly given out caught behind off Ishant Sharma when the ball appeared to have brushed his trousers. But there were no excuses for Ian Bell, sharply caught by Dhoni standing up to Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the next over to leave England on 68 for three.
As in the second game in Kochi, that gave the middle-order a chance to prove that England are not overly reliant on their big three. As in Kochi, they failed miserably, with spin doing the bulk of the damage.
Eoin Morgan chipped a catch to short third man playing a horrible reverse sweep at Ravi Ashwin. Then Kieswetter and Patel were both undone by Jadeja, much as the Test batsmen had floundered haplessly against Abdur Rehman in the UAE this time last year. Despite a belated application of Yorkshire common-sense by Root and Tim Bresnan, that was pretty much that.
