Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Some Lesser Known Facts About Mahendra Singh Dhoni

• Does Mahendra Singh Dhoni smoke?: No

• Does Mahendra Singh Dhoni drink alcohol?: Yes, occasionally

• His family belongs to Lawli, a village in Almora district in Uttarakhand. In the 1970s, his father, Pan Singh, left the village to work in a steel factory in Ranchi.

  

• MS Dhoni’s surname is ‘Dhauni’ and not Dhoni. According to his uncle Ghanpath Singh Dhauni, his surname was wrongly entered in the school certificates, which could not be rectified even after multiple requests. ^[13]Business Standard

• He secured 65% in his 10th Board exams.

• 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.

  

• It was PC Poddar, the former cricket captain of Bengal, who saw great potential in him during the Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW) match in Jamshedpur. After which, he was selected in the Bihar U19 team in the 1998/99 season, where he scored 176 runs in 5 matches.

• In 2002, when Dhoni was trying for a place in the India team, he fell in love with a girl named Priyanka Jha. But, unfortunately, Priyanka died in an accident, the same year.

• Though he played as a senior for Bihar from 1999 to 2003, his consistent performance was ignored by East Zone selectors, after which he was moved to West Bengal, where he started working as a ticket collector at Kharagpur railway station for 3 years (2001-2003).

• 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.

• His life took a turn in 2004 when he got selected for India A tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya, where he performed exceptionally well.

• On his ODI debut against Bangladesh on 23 December 2004, he was out for a duck.

• Dhoni made his 1st ODI century against arch-rival Pakistan in Vishakapatnam, where he smashed 148 runs from 123 balls.

• Earlier, he used to have long hairs for two reasons, first he is a huge fan of John Abraham, secondly, he used to consider it lucky.

  

• In 2006, he was voted as the MTV Youth Icon.

• Even after achieving such a huge success in his early career, he remained grounded and spends time with his childhood buddies.

• It was Sachin Tendulkar who recommended his name for India’s skipper in 2007, after which Indian cricket team reached the heights like never before.

• He and his wife Sakshi knew each other since their 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 messaged her, she didn’t believe it initially. They dated each other for 3 years and got married in a low-profile ceremony in 2010.

• In 2011, he was honoured with the rank of Lt. Colonel by the Indian Territorial Army.

  

• He was the highest taxpayer sportsperson in India for the year 2012, 2013, 2014.

• Dhoni is a good friend of actor, John Abraham.

  

• He is counted among the best finishers in modern cricket, and known for finishing the ODI matches by hitting a six, popular among them was the winning six in the 2011 ICC World Cup final against Sri Lanka.

• Dhoni learned his signature shot, ‘The Helicopter Shot’ from his childhood friend Santosh Lal, who passed away in July 2013.

• In 2012, he became one of the world’s top-earning sportsperson (#31 in the world) by Forbes magazine, beating popular sportspersons such as Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney and the World’s fastest man Usain Bolt.

• He announced his Test retirement after the Melbourne test match in December 2014 during the Australia tour, where he was just 1 test match defeat away for equaling the record of being captain of most defeated test matches abroad.

• There is a hotel in Ranchi named after him – ‘Mahi Residency.’ The hotel was named after he 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.

  

• He is a bike lover and is the co-owner of ‘Mahi Racing Team India‘ in Supersport World Championship.

  

• In 2016, he launched a fashion brand ‘Seven’ with Rhiti Group.

• It was rumoured that he took ₹40 crores from the makers of his biopic M.S. Dhoni: The Untold Story (2016), starring Sushant Singh Rajput.

• He loves “camouflage” clothes and accessories.

• On 2 April 2018, he received Indin’s 3rd highest civilian award ‘Padma Bhushan‘ from President Ram Nath Kovind. Dhoni made this prestigious moment even more special by wearing a military uniform and by marching past the dignitaries present at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

• On 15 August 2020, he announced his retirement from international cricket through an Instagram post.

View this post on Instagram

Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired

A post shared by M S Dhoni (@mahi7781) on Aug 15, 2020 at 7:01am PDT

• On 15 August 2020, his wife, Sakshi Dhoni shared an image and a video of a bright red Pontiac Firebird Trans Am (a muscle car from the 1970s) on her Instagram account; welcoming the new addition to MS Dhoni’s enviable collection of cars.

View this post on Instagram

Major Mahi missing @mahi7781 !

A post shared by Sakshi Singh Dhoni (@sakshisingh_r) on Aug 15, 2020 at 4:42am PDT

• On 2 February 2022, the poster of a graphic novel, Atharva – The 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.

• On 24 March 2022, CSK announced that Dhoni had decided to hand over the CSK captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja after he led the team in twelve seasons, four title triumphs, and five runner-up finishes. ^[14]The Hindu CSK said in a statement,
  

  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.”

• He has produced three small-budget films, Roar of Lion, The Hidden Hindu, and Blaze to Glory, under the banner of MS Dhoni Entertainment. In October 2022, it was announced that his banner will produce feature films in Tamil and other southern Indian languages such as Telugu and Malayalam.

• On 9 May 2023, he presented personalised jerseys to Bomman and Bellie of The Elephant Whisperers fame at M.A. Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, in Chennai. He also presented a jersey to the film’s Oscar-winning director Kartiki Gonsalves.
  

  

  

• Under his captaincy, Chennai Super Kings won IPL 2023 trophy, equalling Mumbai Indians’ record of winning the tournament the most number of times; they won the coveted trophy for the fifth time. ^[15]The Economic Times

  

• Besides cricket, Dhoni has a keen interest in various other sports, including golf. He was once spotted playing golf with Donald Trump, an American politician. In an interview, he revealed that he loves to travel to New Jersey, where he plays golf and spends some precious time with his friends.

  

• Dhoni was named the brand ambassador for the State Bank of India on 29 October 2023. ^[16]The Times of India

• On 15 December 2023, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reportedly decided to retire Dhoni’s No.7 jersey as a mark of honour for his contributions to the Indian cricket team. ^[17]The Indian Express

• Dhoni lodged a complaint against Mihir Diwakar, and Soumya Vishwash, the two officials of Aarka Sports Management, in January 2024. He accused them of defrauding him of over 15 crore. According to sources, Dhoni and Diwakar had signed an agreement in 2017 to establish a cricket academy, but Diwakar allegedly did not follow the agreed terms. The agreement required Aarka Sports to pay a franchise fee and share profits, but these terms were reportedly not met. ^[18]India Today

• Dhoni often smokes hookah. In January 2024, a video of him went viral on the internet in which he was seen smoking hookah. ^[19]NDTV

• In December 2024, retired Indian cricketer Harbhajan Singh revealed in an interview that he and Dhoni do not speak to one another. He further revealed that Dhoni and he only spoke during matches and not after them. He also denied having information as to why Dhoni stopped speaking with him. He talked about it and said,
  

  No, I don’t speak to Dhoni. When I was playing at CSK, that’s when we spoke, but otherwise, we haven’t spoken. It’s been 10 years and more. I have no reason; perhaps he does. I don’t know what the reasons are. When we were playing in the IPL at CSK, that’s when we used to talk, and that, too, was restricted to the ground.”