Mahendra Singh Dhoni Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( pronunciation , commonly as the captain of ICC World Test XI and ICC World known as M. S. Dhoni; born 7 July 1981) is an In- ODI XI teams for 2009. The Indian Territorial Army dian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian na- conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel[10] to tional cricket team in limited-overs formats. An at- Dhoni on 1 November 2011. He is the second Indian tacking right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket- cricketer after Kapil Dev to have received this honour. keeper, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest fin- In 2011, Time magazine included Dhoni in its annual ishers in limited-overs cricket.[1][2][3][4] He made his One Time 100 list as one of the “Most Influential People in Day International (ODI) debut in December 2004 against the World.”[11] In 2012, SportsPro rated Dhoni as the six- Bangladesh, and played his first Test a year later against teenth most marketable athlete in the world.[12] In June Sri Lanka. 2015, Forbes ranked Dhoni at 23rd in the list of high- est paid athletes in the world, estimating his earnings at Dhoni holds numerous captaincy records such as most [13] wins by an Indian captain in Tests and ODIs, and most US$31 million. back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs. He took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid in 2007 and led the team to its first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in 1 Early life and background Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under his captaincy, In- dia won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the CB Series [14] of 2007–08, the 2010 Asia Cup, the 2011 ICC Cricket Dhoni was born in Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), [15] World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. In and he identifies as being a Rajput. His paternal village the final of the 2011 World Cup, Dhoni scored 91 not Lvali is in the Lamgarha block of the Almora District of out off 79 balls to take India to victory for which he was Uttarakhand. Dhoni’s parents, moved from Uttarakhand awarded the Man of the Match. In June 2013, when In- to Ranchi where Pan Singh worked in junior management dia defeated England in the final of the Champions Tro- positions in MECON. Dhoni has a sister Jayanti Gupta [16][17] phy in England, Dhoni became the first captain to win and a brother Narendra Singh Dhoni. Dhoni is a fan all three ICC limited-overs trophies (World Cup, Cham- of Adam Gilchrist, and his childhood idols were cricket pions Trophy and the World Twenty20). After taking teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actor Amitabh [18][19] up the Test captaincy in 2008, he led the team to series Bachchan and singer Lata Mangeshkar wins in New Zealand and West Indies, and the Border- Dhoni studied at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shya- Gavaskar Trophy in 2008, 2010 and 2013. In 2009, mali, Ranchi, Jharkhand where he initially excelled in Dhoni also led the Indian team to number one position badminton and football and was selected at district and for the first time in the ICC Test rankings. In 2013, un- club level in these sports. Dhoni was a goalkeeper for der his captaincy, India became the first team in more his football team and was sent to play cricket for a lo- than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. In cal cricket club by his football coach. Though he had not the Indian Premier League, he captained the Chennai Su- played cricket, Dhoni impressed with his wicket-keeping per Kings to victory at the 2010 and 2011 seasons, along skills and became the regular wicketkeeper at the Com- with wins in the 2010 and 2014 editions of Champions mando cricket club (1995–1998). Based on his perfor- League Twenty20. He announced his retirement from mance at club cricket, he was picked for the 1997/98 Tests in December 2014.[5] season Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship [17] Dhoni holds the post of Vice-President of India Cements and he performed well. Dhoni focused on cricket after [20] Ltd., after resigning from Air India. India Cements is the his 10th standard. Dhoni was a Train Ticket Examiner owner of the IPL team Chennai Super Kings, and Dhoni (TTE) at Kharagpur railway station from 2001 to 2003, has been its captain since the first IPL season.[6][7] Dhoni under South Eastern Railway in Midnapore (W), a dis- is the co-owner of Indian Super League team Chennaiyin trict in West Bengal. His colleagues remember him as a FC.[8] very honest, straightforward employee of the Indian Rail- ways. But he also had a mischievous side to his person- Dhoni has been the recipient of many awards, including ality. Once, while staying at the railway quarters, Dhoni the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 and a couple of his friends covered themselves in white (the first player to win the award twice), the Rajiv Gandhi bedsheets and walked around in the complex late in the Khel Ratna award in 2007 and the Padma Shri, India’s night. The night guards were fooled into believing that [9] fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009. He was named there were ghosts moving around in the complex. The 1 2 4 EARLY CAREER story made big news on the next day.[21][22][23] as a captain. He is a powerful hitter of the ball and one of the fastest man in running between the wickets. His wicket-keeping skills is widely praised by cricket- 2 Personal life experts. He is quick when comes to stumping. He is main wicket-keeper in the team but he occasionally bowls. 4 Early career 4.1 Junior cricket in Bihar In 1998 Dhoni was selected by Deval Sahay to play for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team.[28] Dhoni was included in the Bihar U-19 squad for the 1998–99 season and scored 176 runs in 5 matches (7 innings) as the team finished fourth in the group of six and did not make it to the quarter-finals. Dhoni was not picked for the East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy). Bihar U-19 cricket team advanced to the finals of the 1999–2000 Cooch Behar Trophy where Dhoni made 84 to help Bihar post a total of 357. Bi- har’s efforts were dwarfed by Punjab U-19s’ 839 with Dhoni’s future national squad teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358.[29] Dhoni’s contribution in the tournament included 488 runs (9 matches, 12 innings), 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings.[30] Dhoni made it to the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy but scored only 97 runs in four matches as East Zone lost all four matches and finished last in the tournament. 4.2 Bihar cricket team Sakshi Singh Rawat, Dhoni’s wife Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the Dhoni married Sakshi Singh Rawat,his schoolmate in 1999–2000 season as an eighteen-year-old. He made a [24] DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali. a native of half century in his debut match scoring 68* in the sec- Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on 4 July 2010. At the time of ond innings against Assam cricket team.[31] Dhoni fin- their marriage, she was studying hotel management and ished the season with 283 runs in 5 matches. Dhoni was working as a trainee at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Af- scored his maiden first-class century while playing for ter the retirement of Sakshi’s father from his tea grow- Bihar against Bengal in the 2000/01 season in a losing ing business, their family shifted to their native place, cause.[32] Apart from this century, his performance in the Dehradun. 2000/01 season[33] did not include another score over fifty The wedding took place one day after the couple got and in the 2001/02 season he scored just five fifties in four engaged.[25][26] According to Bollywood actress Bipasha Ranji matches.[34] Basu, a close friend of Dhoni, the wedding was planned for months and was not a spur of the moment decision.[27] Dhoni became father on 6 February 2015 to a baby girl 4.3 Jharkhand cricket team named Ziva. Dhoni’s performance in the 2002–03 season included three half-centuries in the Ranji Trophy and a couple of half-centuries in the Deodhar Trophy as he started gain- 3 Playing style ing recognition for his lower-order contribution as well as hard-hitting batting style. In the 2003/04 season, Dhoni Dhoni is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. Ini- scored a century (128*) against Assam in the first match tially, Dhoni appeared as a lower-order attacking batsman of the Ranji ODI tournament. He was part of the East but he gradually changed his style of playing with occur- Zone squad that won the Deodhar Trophy that year and rence of pressure situation and his growing responsibility contributed with 244 runs in 4 matches. In the Duleep 3 Trophy finals, Dhoni was picked over international crick- making a mark in the India A squad, he was picked in eter Deep Dasgupta to represent East Zone.[35] He scored the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05.[45] a fighting half-century in the second innings in a losing Dhoni did not have a great start to his ODI career, get- cause.[36] ting run out for a duck on debut.[46] In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, Dhoni was picked for the Pak- Dhoni’s talent was discovered via the BCCI's small-town [47] talent-spotting initiative TRDW.