Mahendra Singh Dhoni From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Mahendra Singh Dhoni File:MS Dhoni1.jpg Personal information Full name Mahendra Singh Dhoni Born 7 July 1981 (age 29) Ranchi, Bihar (now inJharkhand), India Nickname Mahi Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Batting style Right-hand batsman Bowling style Right-hand medium Role Wicket-keeper, India captain International information National side India Test debut (cap 251) 2 December 2005 v Sri Lanka Last Test 9 October 2010 v Australia ODI debut (cap 158) 23 December 2004 v Bangladesh Last ODI 02 April 2011 v Sri Lanka ODI shirt no. 7 Domestic team information Years Team 1999/00 – 2004/05 Bihar 2004/05- Jharkhand 2008– Chennai Super Kings Career statistics Competition Test ODI FC LA Matches 54 185 95 241 Runs scored 2,925 5,958 5087 7,960 Batting average 40.06 48.08 37.40 47.95 100s/50s 4/20 7/37 7/34 13/48 Top score 148 183* 148 183* Balls bowled 12 12 42 39 Wickets 0 1 0 2 Bowling average – 14.00 - 18.00 5 wickets in innings - - - - 10 wickets in match - - - - Best bowling 0/1 - - 1/14 Catches/stumpings 148/25 180/60 256/44 247/75 Source: Cricinfo, 21 February 2011 Mahendra Singh Dhoni, pronunciation (help·info) (Hindi: महेनद िसंह धोनी ) (born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Bihar) (now in Jharkhand) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team. Initially recognized as an extravagantly flamboyant and destructive batsman, Dhoni has come to be regarded as one of the coolest heads to captain the Indian ODI side. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007–08 , the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and 2010 against Australia 2–0 and 2011 Cricket World Cup in which India beat Sri Lanka. Under his captaincy India acheivednumeroone ranking in tests. His Test,ODI record is best among all the Indian captains up to date. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in the recent IPL 2010 and in the Champions League. He is now captain of India in all three forms of the game and also led the team to their first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under Dhoni captaincy India became the first team after a gap of more than 20 Years to clean sweep Australia in Test series. Dhoni also led team India to number one position in ICC rankings in test cricket for the first time. Dhoni has also been the recipient of many awards including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first Indian player to achieve this feat), the Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna award and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2009. As of January 2010, Dhoni is the highest ranked ODI batsman on the ICC Rankings List. Dhoni was named as captain of Wisden's first- ever Dream Test XI Team in 2009 and has topped the list of world’s top 10 earning cricketers compiled byForbes.[1] He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009. In the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, he hit 91 not out of just 79 balls to lead India to victory. For his oustanding batting in the final, he was awarded as the man of the match. Contents [hide] • 1 Personal life • 2 Playing style • 3 Domestic career ○ 3.1 Junior cricket ○ 3.2 Bihar team ○ 3.3 India A team ○ 3.4 Indian Premier League • 4 ODI career • 5 Test career • 6 Captain of India ○ 6.1 Two-match ban ○ 6.2 World Cup • 7 Cricket performance ○ 7.1 ODI Cricket ○ 7.2 ODI records ○ 7.3 Man of the Series Awards ○ 7.4 Test cricket ○ 7.5 Test records • 8 Endorsements • 9 Notes • 10 External links Personal life Mahendra Singh Dhoni was born in Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand) to Pan Singh and Devaki Devi.[2] His paternal village Lvali is in the Lamgarha block of the Almora District of Uttarakhand. Dhoni's parents, moved from Uttarakhand to Ranchi where Pan Singh worked in junior management positions in MECON. Dhoni has a sister Jayanti and a brother Narendra. Dhoni had long hair which he has now shortened; he cut it because he wanted to look like his favourite film star John Abraham(actor).He likes Bikes A Hummer to add to the four cars and 23 high-speed motorcycles already parked in his garage in Ranchi.He is endorsing 15 brands from clothes to cold Drinks. And, he is one of the highest income tax payers in last year [3] Dhoni is a fan ofAdam Gilchrist, and his childhood idols were cricket teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and singer LataMangeshkar.[4][5] Dhoni studied at DAV JawaharVidyaMandir, Shyamali,(now the school is known as JVM , Shyamli,Ranchi) Ranchi,Jharkhand where he initially excelled in badminton and football and was selected at district and club level in these sports.Dhoni was a goalkeeper for his football team and was sent to play cricket for a local cricket club by his football coach. Though he had not played cricket, Dhoni impressed with his wicket-keeping skills and became the regular wicketkeeper at the Commando cricket club (1995–1998). Based on his performance at club cricket, he was picked for the 1997/98 season VinooMankad Trophy Under-16 Championship and he performed well.[3] Dhoni focused on cricket after his 10th standard.[6] Dhoni married Sakshi (née Rawat) on July 04, 2010. SakshiDhoni, a Kolkata girl, is studying hotel management and was working as a trainee at the Taj Bengal when the two of them met two years ago. The wedding stumped the media and the fans as it took place only a day after the couple got engaged.[7][8] Bollywood actress BipashaBasu, a close friend of Dhoni, was quick to inform the media that the wedding was planned for months and was not a spur of the moment decision.[9] Playing style Dhoni is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. Dhoni is one of the number of wicket-keepers who have come through the ranks of junior and India A cricket teams to represent the national team — Parthiv Patel, Ajay Ratra and Dinesh Karthik also followed this route. Dhoni, referred to as 'Mahi' by his friends, debuted in the Bihar cricket team during the 1998/99 cricket season and was selected to represent India-A for a tour to Kenya in 2004. Along with GautamGambhir, Dhoni made multiple centuries against the Pakistan-A team in a tri-nation series and was selected in the Indian national team later in that year.[citation needed] Mahendra Singh Dhoni breaks the stumps of a South African batsman during a match in Chennai in 2008. Dhoni tends to play mostly from the back foot with a pronounced bottom hand grip. He has a very fast hand speed through the ball which often results in the ball racing across the ground. From this initial stance his feet do not show much movement which sometimes results in chasing balls while not coming to the pitch of the ball or inside edging a lot of balls. Dhoni scored 148 against Pakistan in his fifth ODI match in 2005 — then the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183* against Sri Lanka. Dhoni's success in the limited overs format secured him a place in the test team. Consistent performances in ODI cricket through the end of the 2005/06 season saw Dhoni briefly ranked as the No. 1 batsman in the ICC ODI ratings.[3] The shot that he plays are fondly called "The Helicopter Shot". Dhoni's form dipped through 2006 as India lost matches at the ICC Champions trophy, DLF Cup, away bilateral series against West Indies and South Africa. A return to form in the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka in early 2007 proved to be an inaccurate indicator of Dhoni's form as India crashed out of the first round in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni was out for a duck in both India's losses. After the World Cup, Dhoni won the Man of the series award in the bilateral ODI tournament against Bangladesh. For the tour of England, Dhoni was named the ODI team vice-captain.[10] Domestic career Junior cricket 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) and Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and VinooMankad 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. Bihar's efforts were dwarfed by Punjab U- 19's 839 with Dhoni's future national squad teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358.[11] Dhoni's contribution for the tournament included 488 runs (9 matches, 12 innings), 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings.[12] MS 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.