He is a role model for many. The living legend, Mahendra Singh Dhoni hails from Ranchi and has made this small city proud with a number of records booked in his name. Being professionally outstanding and inspirational he is also famous as a style icon. He has dawned different hairstyles and clothing and earned both whistles and respect at the same time by his fans. The player and his wife Sakshi Dhoni celebrated their decade of togetherness on 4th July, 2020. Let us know all the interesting facts about this inspirational athlete.
Here, we will discuss:
- Interesting and Lesser Known Facts about the Youth Icon
- Early Life and Struggles of the Self-Made Man
- Let us go through the TimeLine of his Success
- Interesting Records set by the Big Man ‘MS Dhoni’
- Awards and Achievements won by the Idol
- Captain Cool’s Net Worth
Interesting and Lesser Known Facts about the Youth Icon
Although after the release of MS Dhoni- The Untold Story in 2016 left his fans with every detail of his life, here are some facts for those who have not watched the movie.
- Favourite Player- Adam Gilchrist and Sachin Tenulkar
- Favourite Actor- Amitabh Bacchan and John Abraham
- Favourite Actress- Angelina Jolie
- Favourite Singer- Lata Mangeshkar
- Favourite Cuisines- Chicken Butter Masala and Chicken Tikka
- Other Games in which Dhoni excelled- Badminton and Football
- Job Served- Travelling Ticket Examiner at Kharagpur Railway Station (2001-2003)
Early Life and Struggles of the Self-Made Man
Born in a lower middle-class Rajput family to Pan Singh and Devki Devi he completed his schooling from DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamli, Ranchi. His brother Narendra Singh Dhoni is a politician and his sister Jayanti Gupta whom Dhoni credits for being a great supporter. The multi-talented star managed both his studies and Cricket and won several tournaments in the sport, while pursuing graduation from St. Xavier’s College but couldn’t complete it due to some issues. He always had family support when he was struggling in his career. He got married to Sakshi Rawat Dhoni on 4th July 2010 in Dehradun and has a daughter Ziva Dhoni.
Before becoming a Cricket icon, he was goalkeeper in a local Football team. Seeing his expertise in goalkeeping he was advised to try wicket keeping by a cricket coach K.R Banerjee. Though he was proving his talent in the local team of Bihar since 1998 , he wasn’t getting a chance to play for India, owing to severe competition. He shifted to West Bengal, and while serving as a TTE in Kharagpur Railway Station he kept practicing Cricket until his International debut with Bangladesh in 2004 played at Chittagong.
Let us go through the TimeLine of his Success
- December 2004- One-Day International Debut against Bangladesh. He also played while being on tour in Zimbabwe and Kenya.
- December 2005- Test Debut against Sri Lanka
- December 2006- He made his T20 against the Proteas at Wanderers Stadium, Johannesburg.
- 2007- On recommendation of his idol Sachin Tendulkar, he took over the Indian Captaincy, taking Indian Team to its zenith. Under his captaincy India saw many moments of victory and became the number one test team, maintaining this record for eighteen months. The first victory was T20 in 2007.
- 2011- The Indian team under his leadership won the World Cup defeating Sri Lanka.
- 2013- Dhoni with his expertise led the Indian team and booked the Champions Trophy, defeating England by four runs.
The list does not end here, in Indian Premier League, under his captaincy, Chennai Super Kings was victorious in 2010, 2011 and 2018 sessions. The team also won the title of Champions League Twenty20 of two editions, 2010 and 2014.
Interesting Records set by the Big Man ‘MS Dhoni’
- He has the highest individual score (183) by any wicket keeper in One Day Internationals.
- He became the fastest to reach the Number 1 title in the ICC ODIs, just after 42 innings. Even after 16 years, the record stands unbroken.
- He has hit 204 sixes in his ODI career, which is the highest for any captain. His trademark ‘Helicopter Shot’ is a treat to watch for all his fans.
- He has a record of finishing nine ODI matches by hitting a six, hence given the title, ‘The Finisher’.
- He has the maximum numbers of stumpings in International Cricket.
- He is the only skipper to have captained his team in Fifty matches in all the three formats.
- The Bat which he used in winning the World Cup 2011, was sold for a whopping 100,000 pounds, which made it the most expensive bat in the game’s history.
- He is the most successful Indian wicketkeeper.
- He has 82 not outs to his name, the maximum in ODI cricket.
- He became the only player to win the World Cup with a six on 2n April, 2011.
- He is the only captain in the history of cricket to win all the three ICC Trophies- ICC Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy.
Awards and Achievements won by the Idol
MS Dhoni has been honored by the Government of India for the innumerable times he has made our country proud. He was awarded the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2007), Padma Shri (2009) and the Padma Bhushan (2018).
He has many other achievements to his name
- He became the MTV Youth Icon of the YEar in 2007.
- In 2008 and 2009 he won the title of ICC ODI Player of the Year.
- In 2011 he won the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Sports title.
- He won the ICC Award for Spirit of Cricket in 2011.
Captain Cool’s Net Worth
This Indian gem is priceless, owing to his talent, discipline, wise decisions on field and grounded nature. All these attributes make him an idol for the World’s youth in a true sense. He has a net worth of 112 million dollars as of 2020. His annual salary of 2 million dollars makes him one of the highest paid sportsmen. He was listed on the Forbes List among the highest paid sportsmen in 2015. Moreover he endorses around twenty brands.
- He owns a property worth 6 Crore in Ranchi. He has an impressive luxury car collection which is as follows
- Porsche 911 worth Rs 2.5 Crore.
- Audi Q7 worth Rs 88 Lakhs
- Hummer H2 worth Rs 75 Lakhs
- GMC Sierra worth Rs 32 Lakhs
- Being a Bike freak, he reportedly owns 23 bikes! Harley Davidson Fatboy stands out to be his favourite.
Wrapping Up
Dhoni, popular as Mahi among his fans, has a calm and grounded nature despite all such possessions. He is truly a self made man and India’s pride. Do you agree?
