Dhoni Bibliography

MS Dhoni: Personal Life
Before marrying his schoolmate Sakshi Singh Rawat, MS Dhoni fell in love with Priyanka Jha, whom he met in his early 20s. At that time in the year 2002, Dhoni was trying his best to get selected in 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 trainee.

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

MS Dhoni: Career
In the year 1998, MS Dhoni was selected for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) 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 A division. Deval Sahay was impressed with his dedication and cricket skills and pushed for his selection in the Bihar team. For 1999-2000 season, he got selected in senior Bihar Ranji Team at the age of 18. He was not selected for East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy).

Bihar U-19 team advanced to finals but couldn’t make it. Later, he was selected for 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 TRDW ( BCCI’s small-town talent-spotting initiative) Dhoni was spotted by Prakash Poddar (captain of Bengal in the 1960s) who sent a report to 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 tri-nation tournament with Kenya, India A and Pakistan A; Dhoni helped Indian team to chase their target of 223 runs with a half-century against Pakistan team. He scored 362 runs in 6 innings with an average 72.40. His excellent performance received the attention of the then Captain of Indian Cricket Team– Sourav Ganguly, Ravi Shastri, etc.

After India A team, Dhoni was selected in the ODI team for Bangladesh tour in 2004/05. In his debut match, Dhoni was run out for the 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 Sri Lankan Bilateral ODI series that was held between 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 Man of the Series award. In December 2015, Dhoni received a B-grade contract by the BCCI.

In a series against Pakistan, Dhoni scored 72 runs off 46 balls in the third match, helped 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 number one batsman in ICC ODI Rankings sidelining Ricky Ponting. India had disappointing tournaments– DLF Cup 2006-07, 2006 ICC Champions Trophy.

India crashed out of the 2007 Cricket World Cup and Dhoni was out for a Duck in the matches against Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Due to Dhoni’s poor performance in the 2007 World Cup, his house was vandalised by activists of JMM. After India exited from the World Cup in the first round, Dhoni’s family was provided police protection.

Dhoni was named vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa and England. In June 2007, Dhoni received an A Grade contract from the BCCI. In September 2007, for the World Twenty20 matches, Dhoni was elected as the captain of the Indian team. On 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 second ODI and 71 runs off 95 balls in the third ODI. On September 30, 2009, Dhoni took his first wicket in the International cricket against West Indies in Champions Trophy. In 2009, he topped the ICC ODI Batsman ranking.

In 2011, Dhoni-led India to the finals with victory over Australia in quarter-finals and Pakistan in 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 India 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 the series. In 2014, India won the ODI series in England by 3-1 and in India by 2-1 against West Indies.

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

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 Indian teams’ Test wicket-keeper. In his debut match that was marred by rain, Dhoni scored 30 runs.

During January–February 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 the test cricket for the first time in history.

In 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 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 as the captain and wicketkeeper of the ‘Team of the Tournament’ for 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. On September 2007, he led the victory over Pakistan in the finals.

In the 2019 Cricket World Cup, Dhoni was selected in the Indian team. Dhoni played well against South Africa, Australia and West Indies but was criticised 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 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 at 7th place. In 2017, his team reached 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 for CSK and the teams emerged to be one of the strongest in the season. However, Mumbai Indians won the title.