Mahendra Singh Dhoni Biography: A Legendary Cricketer In The History

7 min readNov 17, 2023

Intro

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the most famous cricketer of India. MS Dhoni is also known as “Captain Cool”. Dhoni is one of India’s most beloved and successful cricketers. Dhoni is considered one of the greatest captains in cricket history and has won many awards throughout his career. Dhoni has not only led India to many victories but has also earned respect for his calm nature, tactical skills and leadership qualities.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the captain of the Indian national team from 2007 to 2017 and as a wicketkeeper-batsman in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. MS Dhoni is currently the captain of the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India won the ICC World Cup in 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 and the Asia Cup in 2010 and 2016. He led the Indian team to the number one position in the ICC Test rankings for the first time in 2009. .Dhoni was not only a successful captain but also a skilled wicketkeeper and batsman. He has scored over 10,000 runs in ODIs and is considered one of the best finishers in the limited overs format.

Mahi’s Detailed Biography

Real Name- Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Nick Name- Mahi, MS, Dhoni, MSD, Thala

Profession- Cricketer (Wicket-Keeper)

Date of Birth- 7 July, 1981 Ranchi, Bihar (Present day in Jharkhand)

Birth Place- Ranchi, Jharkhand

Home Town- Lwali Village, Jainti, Almora, Uttarakhand (His paternal village)

Records (Main Ones)

Under the Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy, Indian team won no. 1 Test ranking for 18 months (2009–2011), The ODI World Cup in 2011, Champions Trophy in 2013 & The T20 World Cup in 2007.
Most centuries at the position of no. 7 in ODI.
Most 6s in International Cricket as a captain.
Moat number of stumpings in International Cricket.
Highest score by a wicket-keeper batsman in ODI (183).
Won most T20 International matches a captain.
Most times bowled in International Cricket while playing a match as a wicket-keeper.
Only skipper to score an ODI century while batting at no. 7.
First Indian wicket-keeper batsman to score 4,000 test runs.
Highlight score by an Indian captain in tests (224).
3rd skipper ever to have captained in 300+ international matches, after Ricky Pointing (324) and Stephen Fleming (303).
The only skipper to have captained 50+ matches in all 3 formats.
First Indian captain to win a test series in New Zeeland.
In July 2018, he made the record of maximum stampings in T20 International (33 Stumping in 91 Matches).

Turning Point

Performance in the 2003–04 tri-national tournament against Kenya & Pakistan, he scored 362 runs in 6 matches at an average of 72.40.

Territorial Army

Mahendra Singh Dhoni holds Honorary Rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Parachute Regiment of Indian Territorial Army (106 Para TA Battalion).
The honorary rank was presented to him by the Indian Army in 2011 for his service to the nation as a cricketer.
Dhoni completing five parachute training jumps from Indian Army Aircraft in Agra training camp, after training he became a qualified paratrooper in 2015.
Dhoni completed his two-week stint with the Territorial Army in Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.

Dhoni’s Awards, Houmous, Achievements

National Honours

2007: — Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna award (India’s highest honor given for achievement in sports).
2009: — Padma Shri (India’s fourth-highest civilian award).
2018: — Padma Bhushan (India’s third-highest civilian award).

Sporting Honours

ICC ODI Player of the Year: — 2008 & 2009
ICC World ODI XI: — 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (Captain in 2009, 2011–14).
Castrol Indian Cricket of the Year: — 2011
ICC Men’s ODI team of the decade: — 2011–2020 (Captain and Wicket-keeper).
ICC Spirit of the cricket award of the decade: — 2011–20

Other Achievements

MTV Youth Icon of the Year: — 2006
LG People’s Choice Award: — 2013
Honorary doctorate degree by De Montfort University: — August 2011
CNN, News 18 India of the Year: — 2011
Jharkhand Cricket Association named their stadium’s South stand after Dhoni: — M.S. DHONI PAVILION in 2019.
Mumbai Cricket Association (MCS) Honours him by dedicating seats (J282-J286): — 2023 at Wankhede Stadium where he hit the winning shot in 2011 World Cup Final.

Some Interesting Facts About Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Does Mahi smoke? — No
Does Mahi Drink? — No
MS Dhoni used to work as TTE (Train Ticket Examiner) in Kharagpur railway station for 3 year, 2001 to 2003, before joining cricket (though he played as a senior for Bihar from 1999 to 2003, his consistent performance was ignored by East Zone selectors after he moved to West Bengal).
Mahendra Singh Dhoni received India’s 3rd highest civilian award ‘Padma Bhushan’ from president of India Ram Nath Kovind. Dhoni made this prestigious moment even more special by wearing a military uniform and by marching pas the dignitaries present at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
His family belongs to Lwali village located in Almora dist. Uttarakhand. His father Pan Singh shifted in Ranchi to work in a steel factory in 1970 and left the village.
Dhoni passed his 10th board exam with 66% & 12th board exam with 56–57%.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s real surname is ‘Dhauni’ not ‘Dhoni’. His surname was wrongly entered in the school certificates, which could not be rectified after multiple requests according to his uncle Ghanpath Singh Dhauni.
In 1993 he was first spotted as a goalkeeper by KR Banerjee, the cricket coach at his school, who later asked him to try his hand in wicket-keeping.
Dhoni always wanted to become a footballer. He was the goalkeeper in his school team. He also used to play. He was not much interested in cricket.
A movie has also been made on the life of MS Dhoni named MS Dhoni: The Untold Story. This movie was released on 30 September 2016. Sushant Singh Rajput played an important role in this, who has died.
Before becoming a cricketer, Dhoni had tried his hand at three jobs. He was the first ticket collector in Indian Railways. Then he worked in Air India and after that he also worked for some time in India Cement.
Dhoni has been very fond of bike racing. He has also bought a team in motor racing.
There is also a record of becoming the first sports person to name Para jump in Dhoni’s name. He had made a para jump from the Para Regiment of the Indian Army located in Agra. For this he had taken proper training. In this jump, he jumped from a height of 15 thousand feet.
During his high school, MS Dhoni was the goalkeeper of his high school football team.
MS Dhoni is the only Indian captain to have won all the three ICC championships such as T20 international world cup, 50–50 one day international world cup and champions trophy.
MS Dhoni holds the record for fastest stumping.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been very fond of Bollywood actor John Abraham’s long hair hairstyle. This is the reason why Dhoni used to have long hair in the beginning of his career.
After coming to Indian cricket, Mahi was recommended by cricketer Sachin Tendulkar to make him captain.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni has also become the richest cricketer. Dhoni was ranked 31st among the 100 richest athletes in the world by Forbes Magazine in 2012.
Dhoni had told in the interview — His friend Santosh Lal is behind the helicopter shot. Santosh passed away in 2013 due to a serious illness.
In 2022, when Dhoni was tryi8ng for a place in the Indian Team, he falls in love with a girl named Priyanka Jha. But unfortunately, Priyanka died in an accident in the same year.
In 2003 Sourav Ganguly approached him to move to Kolkata, but he denied the offer and went back to Bihar, where he went to the National Cricket Academy.
In 2004 his life took a turn when he got selected for India A tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya, where he performed exceptionally well.
Dhoni and his wife Sakshi knew each other since childhood. But their love ignited in winters of 2007 when they met in Kolkata through Yudhajit Dutta (Dhoni’s manager and friend). It was Dhoni who asked for her number from his manager, and when he later massaged her, she didn’t believe it initially. They dated each other for 3 year and got married in a low-profile ceremony in 2010.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the highest paid taxpayer sportsperson in India in 2012, 2013, 2014.
A hotel located in Ranchi named ‘Mahi Residency’ after Dhoni made it to the squad of the Indian national cricket team in 2004.
Dhoni is a pet lover and has 2 pet dogs, a Labrador named Zarah and an Alsatian named Sam.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is bike love and is the co-owner of ‘Mahi Racing Team India’ in Super sport World Championship.
Mahi launched his fashion brand ‘Seven’ with Rhiti Group.
Dhoni on 15 August, 2020 he announced his retirement from international cricket through an Instagram post.

On Dhoni’s retirement Sakshi Dhoni (Dhoni’s wife) shared an image “Welcome home ! @mahi7781 missing you …#transam” and video of a bright red Pontiac Firebird Trans Am on Instagram. Welcome the new addition to MS Dhoni’s enviable collection of cars.

On 2 February 2022, the poster of a graphic novel, Atharva — Origin, was released by Virzu Studios in association with MIDAS Deals Pvt Ltd. In this graphic novel, Dhoni has appeared as a superhero and warrior leader.
MS Dhoni has decided to hand over the leadership of Chennai Super Kings and picked Ravindra Jadeja to lead the team. Jadeja, who has been an integral part of Chennai Super Kings since 2012, will only be the third player to lead CSK on 24 March 2022. CSK in a statement on Thursday. In the news of The Hindu.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni production house is owned by both Dhoni and his wife Sakshi. The production house has produced small-scale films like ‘Roar of the Lion’, ‘Blaze to Glory’ and ‘The Hidden Hindu’. The film ‘The Roar of Lion’ is about the comeback of the Chennai Super Kings to the IPL after a two-year absence.