(Image source from: Denied Biryani)

When in Hyderabad, it's hard not to have biryani or at least this is what Chennai Super Kings skipper MS Dhoni thinks.

So when he wasn't allowed to feast on home-cooked biryani, sent from Ambati Rayudu's home, a massively irked Dhoni stormed out of the posh five-star hotel together with his team and support staff and moved to another hotel.

The Chennai Super Kings team was lodged in Grand Kakatiya, the same hotel that prevented the staff from eating home-cooked biryani sent by Dhoni's one-day team-mate Ambati Rayudu.

Dhoni was so upset by Hotel Grand Kakatiya's stance that he made the team management cancel the booking and at once moved the team and support staff to Taj Krishna.

Even, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officials, who were put up in the same hotel, followed Dhoni to Taj Krishna. Not just that, even BCCI chief N Srinivasan cancelled his booking at Kakatiya for Wednesday.

While we do not know if Taj allowed Dhoni and his men to feast on homemade biryani, security experts however condemned the idea of shifting an entire team to a new hotel in a matter of hours.

"Grand Kakatiya had 180 rooms booked for teams, support staff, and board officials. The local police had checked the hotel and sanitized it. It must have been a nightmare for them to make fresh security arrangements at Taj," an official of another Champions League team said.

Although Rayudu was away in Raipur playing against Mumbai Indians, it was on his request that homemade biryani was sent to the hotel.

It is quite common for cricketers to enjoy home cooked food from teammates and fans, especially when touring abroad. However, a team and board officials leaving a hotel and moving to another one after being denied home-cooked food is unheard of.

Nevertheless, Grand Kakatiya has its own strict rules against consumption of outside food in the hotel premises. The management, however, was willing to relent and allowed players to eat the biryani in their rooms. But Dhoni was hell-bent on using the board room. That's when the hotel put its foot down.

While the Grand Kakatiya staff confirmed that the Chennai Super Kings abruptly moved out on Tuesday afternoon, they refused to elaborate. "You should ask the Chennai team management what happened and why they vacated," said Suhasini, a member of the hotel's public relations team.

The hotel's general manager George Verghese too refused comment on the incident. "We're a five-star deluxe facility and there are five other such hotels in the city. One is free to pick one's place of stay," he said. When specifically asked if outside food was the trigger, Verghese remained non-committal.

"I am bound by confidentiality agreement with our guests and cannot vouch for your information, although I cannot stop you from writing it."

A top BCCI official, who did not wish to be identified, also confirmed the abrupt change of hotel, but refused to dwell further.

"We don't know if biryani was the cause of the shift. I'm told Dhoni was not happy with the hotel," he said.

AW: Suchorita Choudhury