Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a professional Indian cricketer, who was born on July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. He is the captain of India’s One Day International (ODI) team Nicknamed “Mahi”, Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a right-handed batsman and his bowling style is right-arm medium. Born to Mr. Pan Singh and Mrs. Devaki Devi. He has a sister, Jayanti, who is an English teacher and a brother Narendra. Mahendra Singh Dhoni completed his schooling from DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, Ranchi, where he initially excelled in badminton and football and was selected to play these sports at the district and club level.
The only place he calls home is a little cottage, fronted by gorgeous and lovingly -attended dahlias, zinnias and roses, where his parents Pan Singh and Devaki Singh live in a colony in the town’s Doranda suburb. Dhoni’s fame has not affected his parents’ lifestyle. It just meant getting used to the voracious, insatiable media. Even their neighbors across the fence get their fair share of media attention. The pride of the house is a giant television screen on which they track their son’s games with pride and nervousness. A large picture of Dhoni graces one wall and there is a cabinet of trophies belonging to Dhoni, and his elder brother Narendra. The eldest takes care of the property in the village in Almora. Almora is a high-lying town at the foot of the Himalaya which is his father’s home town.
The people who know him say he is a very unpretentious boy. He is very down to earth. Whenever he visits Ranchi, he meets all his old friends, he even tries to go to the ground where he used to play. He goes to his school to meet all his teachers. He loved his school a lot. He always tries to help out people in any way, giving tips to the young cricketers. If some elders want to meet him, he tries and makes time for them. The place where he worked for Indian Airlines he tries to visit that place too. He makes it a point to meet everyone.
He was very good at all sports, like badminton, hockey, football, table tennis. He started off with football. Later on when the school needed a wicket keeper and there was no one available, his PT teacher Mr. Banerjee asked him to play as a wicket keeper. That was how he started his cricket career. People just love to see his batting. He is known for his big shots, his fours and sixes. He played in the C.K. Naidu interstate school tournament when he was 15, which he played in Delhi on behalf of Bihar. Later, he came into the Ranji Trophy and he reached the Duleep Trophy.
Dhoni (affectionately known as Mahi), made his domestic debut for Jharkhand in the 1999-2000 season. He started off his career with modest performances at the local level. He was noticed by the national team selectors in 2004 after his performances in first class tournaments such as the Deodhar Trophy and the Duleep Trophy. Dhoni was selected to represent India ‘A’ on a tour of Kenya. There his performances were good enough to win him selection in the Indian national team.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his Test debut against West Indies at the M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, in 2005. Playing in the second Test against Sri Lanka, he made his first half-century in just 51 balls. During India’s tour of Pakistan in January 2006, Mahendra Singh Dhoni scored his first century in 93 balls, a crucial century that helped India avoid follow-on, in the second Test at Faisalabad. He also scored a quick and aggressive 69 runs against West Indies, in the first Test at Antigua, and finished the series with 13 catches and 4 stumpings. As of January 2009, in his 35 Tests, he had scored 1,807 runs, including one century and 15 half-centuries and had also taken 81 catches along with 17 stumpings, at an average of 36.14, and his highest score at this level is 148.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni played his first One Day International against Bangladesh at the M. A Aziz Stadium, Chittagong, Bangladesh, in 2004, where his team won the match by 11 runs. Playing against Pakistan in One Day International series, in the second match at Vishakhapatnam, Dhoni came to the crease at one down and managed to score 148 runs from 123 balls. He hit 15 boundaries and 4 sixes. He got his first ‘man of the match’ award in the same match. Not only a good wicketkeeper, but Dhoni proved himself to be a first class batsman too. He is one of the few finest wicketkeeper batsmen India has seen after a very long time.
In the Sri Lankan bilateral One Day International series during the October-November season 2005, at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, he scored match-winning unbeaten 183 runs off 145 balls. In that series, he was the top run scorer with 346 runs and was awarded the ‘Man of the Series’ award for his efforts. Owing to his outstanding skills and performances on the cricketing field, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) upgraded him to B-grade contract in December 2005.
He was picked to play for the Indian cricket team in December 2004 and has been a regular member of the Indian one-day international team since then. His success in the limited overs format has also secured him a Test spot, and he is rapidly becoming one of the most famous & marketable icons in India, noted for his shoulder length hair.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his debut in Twenty20 (T20) International against South Africa at the New Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg, on December 1, 2006, where India won the match by 6 wickets. He led India to the 2007 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 trophy in South Africa, in September 2007, and won the trophy after beating Pakistan in the final. He became the second Indian captain to have won the World Cup in any form of cricket, after Kapil Dev. Mahendra Singh Dhoni made his first appearance in the First-class match during the 1999-2000 season and as of the year 2009, he has played 173 matches at this level and scored 5,701 runs, including 10 centuries and 35 half-centuries. He also grabbed 187 catches and did 51 stumpings, at an average of 47.50, and his highest score at this level is 183*.
Chennai Super Kings signed Mahendra Singh Dhoni for 1.5 million USD, most expensive player in IPL, to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the 2008 inaugural season, in which he led his team into the finals against Rajasthan Royals. In his fourteen T20 matches, he has scored 295 runs with a best of 73 not out, and as a wicketkeeper, he has dismissed 3 players at this level.
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 cricket. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007-08 and IDEA Cup India-Sri Lanka One Day International Series of 2008. The first ever bilateral One Day International series win of India in Sri Lanka and the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2008 in which they beat Australia by 2-0 thus letting India regain its spot at No.2 in world test rankings (fallen to No.3 after Sri lanka tour). Dhoni (779pts.) also recently captained the One Day International team that beat England in the series by 5-0. Dhoni is currently ranked the second best One Day International batsman as replaced by C.H. Gayle (783pts.) of West Indies by hitting centuries in New Zealand tour and was at 34 position in world test batsman list.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni draws his inspiration from Adam Gilchrist, the former wicketkeeper-batsman of Australia, and is a fan of Bollywood film star, John Abraham.
Awards
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was awarded the country’s highest sports honor, Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, for his contribution to India’s success in the T20 World Cup and the 2008 Australian series. Mahendra Singh Dhoni also won the One Day International Player of the Year 2008 award at the LG International Cricket Council awards ceremony in Dubai and became the first Indian player to get this particular award, and was selected for the International Cricket Council World One Day International Team of the Year 2008. He was voted as MTV Youth Icon 2006 and was the amazing icon of the Pogo TV Amazing Kids awards. Nominated for NDTV Youth Icon of the year 2006
He was conferred the Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian honor, in 2009.
Records:
· Holds the record for highest runs scored by a wicketkeeper, i.e. 183 not out in 145 balls, His innings of 183 not out is the highest score made by anyone in the second innings of an One Day International. The former record was held by Brian Lara for scoring 153 against Pakistan accompanying that there are a list of records which he broke. He hit 10 Sixes, Became the first Indian to hit 10 sixes in an One Day International and the second highest in One Day International cricket (The highest is 11 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi)
· He broke Adam Gilchrist’s record of 172 for
the highest score made by a wicket keeper.
· He is the second highest in scoring maximum runs in boundaries after Herchelle Gibbs of South Africa. In this match, Kumar Sangakkara also made a century, making it the first match in which both wicket keepers scored a century.
· He has an average of 48.89 giving him the fourth highest average in the world overall. The highest Indian average, highest average for a wicketkeeper. Second highest average among those who have made more than 1200 runs in one day international cricket,
· Highest strike rate among the top 5 averages, He has a strike rate of 100.96 giving him the sixth highest strike rate overall, the highest by an Indian, the fourth highest among players who have made more than 1000 runs in International Cricket.
· In April 2006, Dhoni was briefly ranked No.1 in the International Cricket Council one day Batsmen’s ratings. He is currently ranked No. 4 after a poor series in the West Indies.
· Made a record of scoring 120 runs in an One Day International from boundaries and sixes (15 boundaries and 10 sixes)
Captaincy Skills
Dhoni was recommended for captaincy by Sachin Tendulkar. In 2007, when Rahul Dravid resigned as Test and One Day International captain, Sachin Tendulkar was offered captaincy by the board of selectors and Sharad Pawar, but Sachin refused politely and said, “Give it to someone like Dhoni”. The Board agreed. Team India went on to win the inaugural T20 cricket World Cup 2007 and First ever bilateral One Day International series win in Sri Lanka (IDEA CUP 2008).
He captained Team India to win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home versus Australia. India went on to win the coveted four-match Test series (2-0).
Previous captains Anil Kumble and Sourav
Ganguly have said that under Dhoni India will reach greater heights and even all time great
Richard Hadlee said that “Under Dhoni, India will become the world no.1 team” and he also said that by this 2-0 win that the Australian dominance in the cricket world had finally come to an end.
As a farewell gift to former Indian captain, Saurav Ganguly who was set to retire after the Nagpur test against Australia, Dhoni asked Saurav Ganguly to lead the team for one last time towards the end of the Australian innings in the last test at Nagpur.
Dhoni has already been compared to Australia’s Steve Waugh for his captaincy skills. In the battle of nerves, the mental toughness accompanied with the cool temperament exhibited by Dhoni just resembles the times of Steve Waugh’s leadership.
Endorsements:
MS Dhoni signed with Kolkata-based celebrity management company Gameplan Sports in April 2005. As of March 2007, Dhoni is reputed to have 17 endorsements. The following is the list of endorsements signed by Dhoni.
2005: Pepsico, Reebok, Exide, TVS Motors.
2006: Mysore Sandal Soap, Videocon, Reliance Communications, Reliance Energy. Orient PSPO Fan, Bharat Petroleum, Titan Sonata, Brylcreem, NDTV, GE Money.
2007: Siyaram.
2008: Fashion at Big Bazaar, Maha Choco, Boost (health food)
2009: Dabur Honey