MS Dhoni was born on July 7, 1981, in Ranchi, Bihar in a Hindu Rajput family to Pan Singh Dhoni and Devki Devi. His paternal village is in the Lamgara block in Almora, Uttarakhand. His father, Pan Singh, moved from Uttarakhand to Ranchi and worked in junior management positions at MECON. Dhoni has a sister, a brother-Jayanti Gupta sister, and a brother Narendra Singh Dhoni.

He did his schooling at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Ranchi, Jharkhand, and excelled in multiple sports such as badminton, football, and cricket. He played as a goalkeeper for his football team and played cricket for a local club. 

Dhoni showed impressive wicket-keeping skills at the Commando Cricket Club during 1995-98 and was picked up for Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship for the 1997-98 session and played well. After completing High School, Dhoni focussed on Cricket. 

MS Dhoni Personal Life:-

Before marrying his schoolmate Sakshi Singh Rawat, MS Dhoni fell in love with Priyanka, whom he met in his early 20s. At that time in the year 2002, Dhoni was trying his best to get selected for the Indian team. The same year, his girlfriend died in an accident. Dhoni also dated South Indian actress, Lakshmi Rai. Mahendra Singh Dhoni married Sakshi Singh Rawat, his school friend from DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, on July 4, 2010. At the time of their marriage, Sakshi was studying a hotel management course at Taj Bengal in Kolkata as a trainer.

On February 6, 2015, the couple gave birth to a baby girl named Ziva. At this time, he was in Australia and the 2015 Cricket World Cup was a week later. He didn’t travel back and quoted ‘I am on national duty, other things can wait. 

MSD CAREER:-

In the year 1998, MS Dhoni was selected for the Central Coalfields Limited team. Till 1998, he played for the school cricket team and club cricket. Whenever Dhoni hit a six in Sheesh Mahal tournament cricket matches, he was gifted  Rs 50 by Deval Sahay, who selected him for CCL. With the help of his excellent performance, CCL moved to the A division. Deval Sahay was impressed with his dedication and cricket skills and pushed for his selection to the Bihar team. For the 1999-2000 season, he got selected for the senior Bihar Ranji Team at the age of 18. He was not selected for the East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or the Rest of the India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy).

Bihar U-19 team advanced to the finals but couldn’t make it. Later, he was selected for the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy. While the East Zone lost all the matches, Dhoni finished last in the tournament. 

During 2002-2003, while playing in the Jharkhand Team for Ranji Trophy and Deodhar Trophy, Dhoni gained recognition for his lower-order contribution as well as hard-hitting batting style.

In the Duleep Trophy Finals, Dhoni was picked over International cricketer Deep Dasgupta to represent East Zone. Through TRADE ( BCCI’s small-town talent-spotting initiative), Dhoni was spotted by Prakash Poddar (captain of Bengal in the 1960s) who sent a report to the National Cricket Academy. 

Dhoni was selected for India A team for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya. At Harare Sports Club, against Zimbabwe, Dhoni had 7 catches and 4 stumpings in the match. In a tri-nation tournament with Kenya, India A, and Pakistan A; Dhoni helped the Indian team to chase their target of 223 runs with a half-century against the Pakistan team. He scored 362 runs in 6 innings with an average of 72.40. His excellent performance received the attention of the then Captain of the Indian Cricket Team– Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri, etc.  

After India A team, Dhoni was selected in the ODI team for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05. In his debut match, Dhoni was run out for a duck. Despite playing an average series against Bangladesh, Dhoni was picked for the ODI series against Pakistan. In the second match of the series, Dhoni scored 148 runs in 123 balls and made a record for the highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper. 

He played in the first two matches in the Sri Lanka ODI series that was held in October-November 2005. He was promoted to No. 3 in the third ODI held at Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Dhoni scored an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka in a winning cause. He received the Man of the Series award. In December 2015, Dhoni received a B-grade contract from the BCCI. 

In a series against Pakistan, Dhoni scored 72 runs off 46 balls in the third match, helping India to lead the series 2-1. In the final match, Dhoni scored 77 runs off 56 balls, helping India to win the series by 4-1. 

On April 20, 2006, he was ranked as the number one batsman in ICC ODI Rankings sidelining Ricky Ponting. India had disappointing tournaments– DLF Cup 2006-07, 2006 ICC Champions Trophy. 

Dhoni was named vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa and England. In June 2007, Dhoni received A Grade contract from the BCCI. In September 2007, for the World Twenty20 matches, Dhoni was elected as the captain of the Indian team. In September 2007, Dhoni shared a record with his idol Adam Gilchrist– most dismissals in an innings in ODI.

In 2009, during the series between India and Australia, Dhoni scored 124 runs off 107 balls in the second ODI and 71 runs off 95 balls in the third ODI. On September 30, 2009, Dhoni took his first wicket in international cricket against West Indies in the Champions Trophy. In 2009, he topped the ICC ODI Batsman ranking. 

In 2011, Dhoni-led India to the finals with a victory over Australia in the quarter-finals and Pakistan in the finals. Dhoni helped India win by chasing a target of 275 against Sri Lanka in the finals with Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni finished the match with a historical six with a score of 91*. He bagged Man of the Match for his outstanding performance in the 2011 Cricket World Cup. 

In 2012, after the World Cup win, Pakistan toured India for a bilateral series for the first time in five years. India lost the series by 1-2. 

In 2013, India won ICC Champions Trophy and Dhoni became the first and the only captain in the history of cricket to claim all the ICC trophies. In the same year, he became the second Indian batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to score 1,000 or more ODI runs against Australia. 

During 2013-14, India toured South Africa and New Zealand but lost both series. In 2014, India won the ODI series in England by 3-1 and in India by 2-1 against West Indies. 

During the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Dhoni became the first Indian captain to win all group stage matches in such a tournament. Despite a great start in the 2015 Cricket World Cup, India lost the title to the eventual champions.

In January 2017, Dhoni stepped down as the captain of the Indian team in all the limited-over formats. In the ODI home series against England, he scored well and was named as a wicketkeeper of the ‘Team of the Tournament’ at the 2017 Champions Trophy and ODI XI of the year by Cricbuzz. 

In August 2017, during the ODI against Sri Lanka, he became the first wicket-keeper to effect 100 stumpings. 

After his excellent performance in ODI against Sri Lanka, Dhoni replaced  Dinesh Karthik as the Indian team’s Test wicket-keeper. In his debut match that was marred by rain, Dhoni scored 30 runs.

During January 2006, India toured Pakistan and Dhoni scored his maiden century off 93 balls at Faisalabad. 

In 2006, on the West Indies tour, he aggressively scored 69 runs in the first match while he improved his wicket-keeping skills and finished the series with 13 catches and 4 stumpings. 

In 2009, Dhoni scored two centuries against Sri Lanka and led to India’s victory by 2-0. With this victory, India ranked No. 1 in test cricket for the first time in history.  

In the 2014-15 season, Dhoni played his last test series against Australia and captained the second and third test matches. Dhoni announced his retirement from the Test format, following the third test in Melbourne.

 In his last test match, Dhoni effected nine dismissals and broke Kumar Sangakkara’s record for stumpings with 134 in all the formats. 

In 2006, Dhoni was a part of India’s first-ever Twenty20 international match against South Africa. In his debut match, he was out for a duck but effected two dismissals. 

On February 12, 2012, he made a 44 and led India to win their first-ever win over Australia. In 2014, ICC named him the captain and wicketkeeper of the ‘Team of the Tournament’ for the T20 World Cup.

In 2007, MS Dhoni lead India to their first-ever World T20 match. He made his captaincy debut against Scotland but the match was washed off. In September 2007, he led the victory over Pakistan in the finals. 

In the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Dhoni was selected for the Indian team. Dhoni played well against South Africa, Australia, and West Indies but was criticized for his strike rate against Afghanistan and England. In the semi-finals against New Zealand, Dhoni scored a half-century in the second innings but was run out at a very crucial stage. With his dismissal, India’s World Cup run ended. 

In the first season of IPL (Indian Premier League), Dhoni was contracted by the Chennai Super Kings for US$1.5 million, becoming the most expensive player in the first season auctions. Under his captaincy, the team won 2010, 2011, and 2018 IPL titles. The team also won the 2010 and 2014 Champions League T20 titles.

In 2016, Chennai Super Kings was suspended for two years and Dhoni was contracted by Rising Pune Supergiant to lead their team. However, the team finished in 7th place. In 2017, his team reached the finals but lost the title match to Mumbai Indians. 

In 2018, the ban on Chennai Super Kings was uplifted and the team returned to play the IPL. Dhoni was again contracted by CSK and led the team to win the third IPL title. In 2019, he again captained CSK and the team emerged as one of the strongest in the season. However, Mumbai Indians won the title. 

Test Records of MSD :-

• ln 2009, under Dhoni’s captaincy, India topped the ICC Test Cricket rankings for the first time. 
• He is the most celebrated Indian Test Captain with 27 Test wins. 
• He has 15 overseas Test defeats, the most by an Indian captain. 
• He became the first Indian wicket-keeper to complete 4,000 test runs.
• Dhoni scored 224 against Australia. This is the highest score by a wicket-keeper–captain and the third-highest score by an Indian Captain. 
• His maiden century against Pakistan is the fastest century to date scored by an Indian wicket-keeper and fourth overall. 
• Dhoni completed 50 sixes as a captain. 
• With 294 dismissals in his entire career, he tops the list in all-time dismissals list by Indian wicket-keepers.
• He shares a record with most dismissals in an innings- 6 with Syed Kirmani. 
• He also has a record of 9 dismissals in a match by an Indian wicket-keeper. 

ODI  Records of MSD:-

• Third and First Indian Captain to win 100 games. 
• Fourth Indian Cricketer to reach 10,000 ODI runs after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly & Rahul Dravid. He is also the second wicket-keeper to reach this milestone. 
• With a career average of over 50, he is the first player to achieve 10,000 runs. 
• Among cricketers with more than 5,000 runs, he has the 5th highest batting average and the 2nd highest batting average among players with an aggregate of over 10,000 runs- 51.09. 
• With 4031 runs in his entire career, he scores the most runs in ODI history at number 6. 
• While batting at number 7, only cricketer to score centuries in ODI history- 2 centuries at number 7. 
• He has 82 Not Outs in ODIs. 
• He scored 183* against Sri Lanka- the highest score by a wicket-keeper. 
• He scored 113 against Pakistan- the highest by a captain batting at number 7. 
• India’s highest eight-wicket partnership in ODI- Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. 
• Most unbeaten innings and the highest average among batsmen in ODI run-chases. 
• He is the only cricketer to have played most ODI matches as a captain and wicket-keeper. 
• He holds the record for most dismissals in an innings and career by an Indian wicket-keeper- 6 and 432 respectively. 
• He has a record of doing most stumpings by a wicket-keeper in ODI history- 120.
• First Indian and Fourth wicket-keeper in the world to take 300 ODI catches. 

T20I Cricket Records of MSD:-

• He holds the record for most wins as a Captain- 41. 
• He played most matches as a captain and wicket-keeper- 72.
• He played most consecutive T20I innings without a duck- 84. 
• Dhoni played the most T20I innings– 76. 
• He holds the record of most dismissals as wicket-keeper in T20Is- 87. 
• He holds the record of most catches by a wicket-keeper in T20Is- 54. 
• He holds the record of most stumpings as a wicket-keeper in T20Is- 33.
• He holds the record for most catches as wicketkeeper in a T20I inning-5

MSD Production House:-

MS Dhoni has a production house named ‘Dhoni Entertainment’. The first show produced under this banner was a documentary web series that premiered on Hotstar– Roar of the Lion. The series had MS Dhoni himself in the lead role. He will soon make his on-screen appearance in the upcoming web series Atharva: The Origin as Atharva.  

MS Dhoni Awards:-

• In 2018, he received India’s third-highest civilian award- Padma Bhushan. 
• In 2009, he received India’s fourth-highest civilian award– Padma Shri. 
• For 2007-2008, he received  India’s highest honor given for achievement in sports- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. 
• In 2008, and 2009, he was awarded the ICC ODI Player of the Year. 
• In  2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014; he was awarded the ICC World ODI XI. 
• In 2009, 2010, and 2013; he was awarded the ICC World Test XI. 
• In 2011, he was awarded Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year. 
• In 2006, he received the MTV Youth Icon of the Year. 
• In 2013, he received the LG People’s Choice Award. 
• In August 2011, he received an honorary doctorate from De Montfort University. 

MS DHONI BIOPICS:-

MS Dhoni: Movie and Series

In 2016, a Bollywood movie based on the life of MS Dhoni was made. The story outlined his journey from his childhood to the 2011 Cricket World Cup, starring Sushant Singh Rajput in a lead role.  and The movie was titled ‘M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story. 

On March 20, 2019, a web series titled ‘Roar of the Lion’ was released on Hotstar. It was based on his life and the time he spent with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL (Indian Premier League). 

BIKE & CAR COLLECTIONS OF MSD:-

Bikes Collection:- Kawasaki Ninja H2, Confederate Hellcat, BSA, Suzuki Hayabusa, a Norton Vintage, Hero Karizma ZMR, Yamaha Rxz, Yamaha Thundercat, Yamaha Rx, Ducati 1098, Yamaha Rd 350, Tvs Apache, Kawasaki zx14r Ninja, Confederate Hellcat X 132, Harley Davidson Fat boy, Enfield Machismo, Customized Tvs Dirt bike

MS Dhoni: Net Worth:-

In 2012, Forbes magazine ranked Dhoni as one of the world’s top-earning sportspeople. Dhoni owns a hotel in Ranchi named ‘Mahi Residency’. He also became the highest taxpayer sportsperson in India for the years 2012, 2013, and 2014. As per several sources, his net worth is approximately US$103 million. 

THE LEGENDS NEVER RETIRE – A small article to tribute to my demigod Mahendra Singh Dhoni——- By heMANth