Currently, the ODI and T20 captain of India - Mahendra Singh Dhoni, has won all the major trophies there are to be won as a captain and is one of the greatest players produced by India. Dhoni has seen both the ups and downs of being an Indian captain and has graciously been serving Indian cricket for more than 11 years.
From a Train Ticket Examiner to a World-class wicketkeeper-batsman, MS Dhoni’s journey will certainly inspire millions to follow their dreams in the years to come. Here is everything there is to know about the 'Captain Cool', including details of his family, his daughter, his net worth and more.
Also read: Virat Kohli, age, net worth, house, family, tattoos and everything you want to know about him
MS Dhoni age and background:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni celebrates his birthday on the 7th of July. Born in Ranchi (Jharkhand), in 1981, MSD is currently 35 years old with the fitness of a debutant cricketer. Just like any other teenager, young ‘Mahi’ (as his close ones call him) grew up watching Sachin Tendulkar and also enjoyed watching former Australian legend Adam Gilchrist.
The Indian skipper did his schooling in DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali. Though a lot of people might not know this, MSD showed interest in sports such as Badminton and Football and was even selected to play football at district and club level.
Although he had never played Cricket, Dhoni was sent by his Football coach to play cricket for a local club as a wicket-keeper. He did not disappoint and in fact put on a good show as he impressed everyone with his ‘street-smart’ abilities. He got his first break as he was selected for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship in 1997 and gave commendable performances.
Dhoni made some useful contributions with the bat for Bihar U-19 team and eventually made his way to the senior Bihar team for the 1999/2000 Ranji season at the age of 18. He scored a fifty in his debut game against Assam in the second innings and ended the season with 283 runs in 5 matches. Dhoni’s maiden First-class century came against Bengal that sadly ended in a defeat for Bihar in 2000/01 season.
The man who brought the first T20 World Cup to India in 2007, had worked as a Train Ticket Examiner till 2001, balancing his cricket training with his job.
It was only during the 2002/03 season that Dhoni started developing a reputation as a wicket-keeper batsman when he played for the Jharkhand Cricket team with centuries in the Ranji Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy. His consistency led to his debut for the India A team and was even backed by the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri to step up to the International stage.
Dhoni’s International debut came in the form of a One-Day International match against Bangladesh in the 2004/05 series but was unfortunate to be run out on a duck. As cool as a cucumber as he was back then, he made his mark against Pakistan in 2005, where he scored 148 runs (123 deliveries) in the fifth ODI game of the series and broke the record for the highest individual score by an Indian wicket-keeper.
Justifying his position in the side, Dhoni produced another match-winning effort against Sri Lanka in the same year where he scored an unbeaten 183 runs (in 145 deliveries), cementing his place in the National side and the rest, as they say, is history.
MS Dhoni family:
MS Dhoni was born to Devaki Devi and Pan Singh. His father, Pan Singh, worked as a junior manager in MECON and his mother, Devaki Devi as a housewife. Dhoni has a brother, Narendra Singh Dhoni and a sister Jayanti Gupta. Narendra Singh Dhoni is a politician and was part of the BJP in 2009 but later on joined the Samajwadi party in 2013.
MS Dhoni did not meet Sakshi by chance as they had been childhood friends and their families had known each other pretty well as Sakshi’s father also worked in the same company as Dhoni’s father. As fate would have it, Sakshi moved to Dehradun with her family and the two drifted apart.
It wasn’t until 2007 that Sakshi and Dhoni would meet again under completely different circumstances. Dhoni, now the wicket-keeper of India and Sakshi worked as an intern in Taj Bengal and co-incidentally the Indian team also stayed at the same hotel for a match against Pakistan at the time.
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The two started seeing each other again in 2008 and eventually got married on the 4th of July in 2010 in a ceremony that was attended only by family members, close relatives, and a few Indian cricketers.
MS Dhoni with daughter:
MS Dhoni and Sakshi were blessed with a baby girl on the 6th of February in 2015. The couple named her Ziva which is a Hebrew name and it means radiance/light.
Pan Singh with his granddaughter Ziva,
Dhoni poses for a picture with Ziva, Dwayne Bravo, and Harbhajan Singh
MS Dhoni Net worth:
MS Dhoni is currently the highest paid cricketer in the world with an estimated net worth of $100 million. Dhoni has earned an estimated $4,000,000 from 2014 to 2015 through winnings and salaries only.
The 35-year-old has endorsed a number of brands over the years like Pepsico, Reebok, Exide, TVS Motors, Mysore Sandal soap, Videocon, Reliance Communications, Reliance energy, Orient PSPO fan, Dabur Honey, and Amrapali to name a few.
MS Dhoni Movie:
A movie on the life of the MS Dhoni was announced in 2016 titled as ‘MS. Dhoni: The Untold Story’. Ace filmmaker Neeraj Pandey has directed the movie which is produced by Fox Star Studios, Inspired Entertainment, and Arun Pandey in association with Friday Film Works.
Actor Sushant Singh Rajput reprises the role of MS Dhoni on the silver screen with Kiara Advani as Sakshi Singh Dhoni in the movie. The movie is expected to release on the 30th of September in 2016.
The trailer was released on the 11th of August this year and has already received over 20 million views with a positive response from the viewers. The movie will be released in Hindi and will also be simultaneously dubbed in Telugu, Tamil, and Marathi languages.
MS Dhoni House:
The Indian cricketer currently resides in an independent house in Ranchi with his parents, wife Sakshi, and daughter Ziva.
Dhoni had also purchased a farm house in Ranchi.
MS Dhoni Test Retirement:
MS Dhoni retired on the 30th of December in 2014 in the midst of the 2014/15 tour to Australia. The former Indian Test Captain had come under fire for his poor record abroad. In Dhoni’s final Test Series, Australia won 2-0, with draws in the third and fourth test match.
Dhoni made no mention of his retirement during the post-match conference and announced his retirement later on to the BCCI. Dhoni is India’s most successful Test Captain, with 27 wins in 60 matches and also brought India to the No.1 position in Test Cricket.
Dhoni has played 90 Test matches in his career that began in 2005 and has scored 4,876 runs at an average of 38. Dhoni’s high score came against Australia in 2013 that took place in Chennai where he scored 224 runs. The charismatic Indian cricketer has 294 dismissals as a wicketkeeper which is the fifth highest in Test Match history.
Following his retirement from Test Cricket, the Board said, “One of India's greatest Test captains under whose leadership India became the No. 1 team in the test rankings, MS Dhoni, has decided to retire from Test cricket citing the strain of playing all formats of cricket”, as quoted by Cricinfo.
The Board further added, “BCCI, while respecting the decision of MS Dhoni to retire from Test cricket, wishes to thank him for his enormous contribution to Test cricket and the laurels that he has brought to India”.
MS Dhoni Twitter and Facebook:
MS Dhoni uses a verified twitter account under the handle name “@msdhoni” and a verified Facebook account under the name “MS Dhoni”. The Indian Cricketer shares motivational messages for other athletes and also shares some his personal moments on Social media. Here are some of them,
Dhoni encouraging Indian Boxer Vijender Singh,
Dhoni shares his first para jump experience,
Dhoni taking part in a warm-up session in Football
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