mahendra singh dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Mahendra Singh Dhoni is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket .
1. Biography
Full NameMahendra Singh Dhoni
Born07071981
Batting styleRight hand batsman
Bowling styleRightarm medium pace
Place of birthRanchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand), India
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a professional Indian cricketer who represents the country in tests, One Day Internationals as well as Twenty 20 Internationals and is also the captain of the national side. Dhoni earned himself a place in the folklore of Indian cricket when he led his young side to a World Cup win in 2011 on home soil, the countrys first triumph in 28 years beating the likes of Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka on the way to the title. He made his One Day International debut for the country against Bangladesh in 2004 and played his first test match against Sri Lanka in 2005. The team had long been searching for a young wicket keeper who could bat as well as the then team captain Rahul Dravid could not cope with all the responsibilities and in Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the team found a very good wicket keeper and an explosive batsman who could take apart any bowling lineup on his day.

Dhoni was made the captain of the side after the Indian cricket teams disastrous World Cup campaign in 2007 and his first assignment was to take the team to the inaugural World Twenty 20 Championship that was held in South Africa and he showed the whole world his leadership capabilities when he took a young and inexperienced side to the title, to lift Indias first major trophy since the Champions Trophy win in 2003. He also led the side to victory in the Commonwealth Bank series in 200708 held in Australia and became the first captain to lead his side to victory in this trinations trophy held in Australia in almost two decades. Dhoni also led the side to two consecutive test series wins against the Aussies in 2008 and 2010 to win the BorderGavaskar trophy. But as mentioned earlier, Mahendra Singh Dhoni earned himself a place in Indian cricket history due to his leadership in the World Cup where he was named Man of the Match in the final against Sri Lanka. He is already considered as one of the best test captains in the history of the Indian side and although his perfect record was wiped off by the white wash in the test series against England, it would be unwise to question his abilities.Mahendra Singh Dhoni has all the makings of a great captain like Steve Waugh and Allan Border and if he can keep his side winning, there is no doubt that he will reach the same heights as the other great captains of the modern game.

2. The Childhood Years
Mahendra Singh Dhoni had always been a bit of a sportsman right from the time when he used to be in the 5th standard at DAV Shyamali in Ranchi and truth be told, he has acknowledged that his parents always encouraged him to participate in sporting endeavors, without putting undue pressure on him regarding the rat race of education. That is something you can notice in the way Dhoni conducts himself on the cricket field. He is a fierce competitor no doubt but he treats the game as a game without letting it affect him personally and that is the reason why you would never see him shouting animatedly at his bowlers or fielders when things go awry. His father Pan Singh was employed at the junior levels at MECON and hence there wasnt an abundance of money in the family but they were not desperately poor either.
3. Turning Point
Dhoni was never interested in cricket when he was a child but he was someone who excelled in badminton and football, in which he played as a goalkeeper. Cricket was a game that he used to play once in a while in his locality but badminton and football were the games in which he represented his school as well as his district. However, it all changed one fine day when he was asked to play for a local club as a wicket keeper since their regular keeper was indisposed. Now, since Dhoni was a goalkeeper in football, he had the basic agility that was required to become a good keeper and so it was in this game he first announced himself as a wicket keeper of rare ability.

From then on, he went from strength to strength as a cricketer but there was no apparent breakthrough other than the fact that he was getting selected regularly in grade cricket. However, Dhoni realized that he needed a job in order to sustain his family and so it was in the year 2000 that he was took up the job of a train ticket examiner or TTE in the Indian Railways. For those who might have traveled in Eastern railway might have encountered Dhoni as a TTE during those years between 2000 and 2003. This was however the best decision that he could have taken since as an employee of the Indian Railways he was able to play cricket for a strong domestic cricket side and truth be told, it was his stint with the Railways that really thrust him into the limelight.It was in 2004 that he was eventually selected for India and the rest as we all know would surely be a part of modern Indian history.

4. Cricketing information
Role Captain of the Indian ODI and Twenty20 team and Vice captain of the Test team
Batting style Right hand batsman
Bowling style Right arm medium
Field position Wicketkeeper
Major teams India , Jharkhand, Chennai Super Kings.
5. Endorsments
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is amingst the most popular brands in India. Currently he endorses 20 brands which is second maximum in India after Shahrukh endorsing 21. Some popular endorsments of Dhoni include Pepsi, Reebok, TVS Motors, Videocon, Aircel, Bharat Petroleum and Boost.
6. Mahendra Singh Dhoni in IPL
Mahendra SIngh Dhoni is the icon player of Chennai Super Kings team in Indian Premier League. He holds the esteem to be the costliest player auctioned before the begining of IPL. Dhoni has been the captain of Super Kings from the first edition and under his excellent captaincy, the team has seen everest heights in the tournament. The team reached the finals in the first edition and got to semis in the second. He has been the front runner in teams performance and has played some incredible innings to lead CSK to victory.
7. Career Highlights
Chennai Super Kings won IPL 2010 under Dhonis captaincy.
Dhoni topped the list of worlds top 10 earning cricketers compiled by Forbes.
Dhoni holds the world record of leading India for no loss as a Captain upto 11 test matches from debut test.
India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 under Dhonis captaincy.
8. Records
Castrol ODI Cricketer of the Year 2010.
Dhoni is the first Indian wicket keeper batsman to get a ranking of No 1 in ICC World Rankings.
Dhoni holds the record highest score by a wicket keeper batsman in One Day Internationals.
Dhoni holds the record of highest score by a batsman in second innings of a One Day International.
Dhoni holds the record of highest number of sixes hit by an Indian in 1 inning of a One ay International.
Dhoni holds the record of highest batting average by a wicket keeper.
DhoniDhoni holds the record of fastest century scored by an Indian wicket keeper. (148 against Pakistan)
Dhoni Dhoni holds the record of most dismissals in an innings by an Indian wicketkeeper.
9. Personal life
Dhoni married Sakshi Singh Rawat, a native of Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on 4 July 2010. At the time of their marriage, she was studying Hotel Management and was working as a trainee at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. After the retirement of Sakshis father from his tea growing business, their family shifted to their native place, Dehradun.The wedding stumped the media and the fans as it took place only a day after the couple got engaged.Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu, a close friend of Dhoni, was quick to inform the media that the wedding was planned for months and was not a spur of the moment decision
10. Playing style
Dhoni is a righthanded batsman and wicketkeeper. Dhoni is among the wicketkeepers who have come through the ranks of junior and India A cricket teams to represent the national team. Parthiv Patel, Ajay Ratra and Dinesh Karthik also followed this route.Dhoni tends to play mostly from the back foot with a pronounced bottom hand grip. He has a very high bat speed through the ball which often results in the ball racing across the ground. From this initial stance his feet do not show much movement which sometimes results in chasing balls while not coming to the pitch of the ball or some deliveries catching the inside edge.