MS Dhoni height, age, wife, family, Controversies, awards, unknown facts, biography & more

In a country where cricket is nothing less than a national obsession and land where, be it God or the devil, both eat, sleep cricket and most certainly wear cricket with their hearts right on their sleeves. Where the game takes a near-fanatical angle, MS Dhoni is a name synonymous to cricket. This ace cricketer has made India proud on various occasions. He has contributed extraordinarily to making India the powerhouse of cricket. In this insightful feature, we will look at some unheard-of facts and biography of MS Dhoni.

MS Dhoni Overview:

Dhoni Physical Stats:

Having played cricket for more than 17 years, MS Dhoni can still give a youngster a run for their money as far as fitness his concerned. MS Dhoni is widely regarded among the best runners between the wickets and converts ones into twos with ease. He looks strongly built and fit on the field. Dhoni’s reflexes behind the stumps speaks volumes about his vigor. His tallness is around 5′ 11″, and he weighs roughly 75 – 80 kgs. His hair is black and eyes’ shading is darker brown. Being a sportsperson, he is very careful aware and conscious of his fitness. His chest is around 42 inches, waist is 32 inches, and biceps are 14 inches.

MSD Personal Information:

Dhoni was born on 7 July 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand. He hails from a Hindu Rajput family. His paternal village Lwali is in Jainti tehsil, Lamgara block of the Almora District of Uttarakhand. He had done his schooling at the DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir School in Ranchi, Jharkhand. At first, in his school days, he used to play badminton and football and in fact was the goalkeeper of his football group.

In 1993, it was Keshav Banerjee who first spotted him goalkeeping and asked him to try his hand at wicketkeeping. Though reluctant initially, he agreed. During the Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW) match, former Bengal skipper, PC Poddar saw great potential in him. It was in this match he awed everybody with his wicket-keeping abilities which brought about getting him a customary post of the wicketkeeper at the Commando Cricket Club. From 2001 to 2003, he worked as a Train Ticket Examiner (TTE) at the Kharagpur Railway Station under South Eastern Railway in Midnapore (W).

Favourites:

He is a fan of Adam Gilchrist, and his childhood cricket idol was his former team-mate and former cricketer, Sachin Tendulkar. Since childhood his favourite Bollywood actor is Amitabh Bachchan and favourite singer is Lata Mangeshkar. Among the current lot of sportspersons, Mahi admires Portugese star Ronaldo and King of Clay Rafael Nadal. Dhoni’s Twitter Bio reads “Perennially Hungry for Chicken Butter Masala”. Apart from that he is a hindi retro aficionado and an absolute pet lover.

Dhoni’s Family Details:

Dhoni’s father Pan Singh worked in junior management positions in MECON and mother Devaki Devi is a homemaker. He has a sister Jayanti and a brother Narendra Singh Dhoni, who is a local politician. Dhoni’s uncle Dhanpat Singh Dhauni and his cousin Hayat Singh Dhauni still live in his ancestral village Lwali, Uttarakhand. He married Sakshi Singh Rawat, his rumoured schoolmate in DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, Ranchi and 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 Sakshi’s father from his tea growing business, her family shifted to their native place, Dehradun. Dhoni became a father on 6 February 2015 to a baby girl and named her Ziva.

Professional Information:

Dhoni started his career in 1998 by playing for Bihar U-19 group. Dhoni has likewise played for East Zone U-19 Cricket group. In 1999– 2000, Dhoni made his first introduction for Bihar in Ranji Trophy. His exhibitions in the Deodhar Trophy, Duleep Trophy and India ‘A’ voyage through Kenya, conveyed him to the notice of the national group selectors. His endeavors in the 2003– 2004 season made him in Indian A cricket group for the arrangement against Zimbabwe and Kenya. He was then chosen to play for the Indian Cricket Team in 2004, where he made his ODI make a big debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong.

Dhoni made a mark in the 50-overs format with a tornado 148 against Pakistan, and went to the front line with an astonishing 183 not out in a pursuit against Sri Lanka. His notoriety for being a victor of apparently inconceivable run-pursues has not lessened from that point forward. With a average of more than 50, Dhoni is an undisputed victor of the format. In the established frame, Tests, Dhoni’s most prominent specialty is surely the merciless 224 against Australia at Chepauk in 2012-13.

He had his influence in maintaining the stature of cricket as a noble man’s game when he had reviewed Ian Bell at Trent Bridge after a questionable choice. It had cost him the Test (India were whitewashed too). He quit Test cricket mid-path through the visit to Australia in 2014-15, permitting Virat Kohli to assume control. In addition to other things, he has likewise been in charge of putting the town of Ranchi on the guide of global cricket.

International Retirement

Test Cricket Retirement: On December 30 2014, MS Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket post India’s Boxing Day Test versus Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), Melbourne. The players and the entire cricketing fraternity was left shocked by the announcement as no one saw it coming. R Ashwin had revealed that MS Dhoni shed few tears and wore his Test jersey whole night after retiring from Test cricket. 

ODI and T20I Retirement: Just as Dhoni had made a place in the hearts of the Indian team and Indians peacefully, he also announced his retirement calmly. No media speculations. No formal announcements. No press meet. No grand goodbye game. No final speech. Not even a single clue. Just an IGTV video with a classic Hindi song.

On August 15, 2020, Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on India’s 74th Independence Day. He posted a video on Instagram featuring pictures of both the best and worst moments of his overall career, with the song “Main Pal do Pal ka Shayar Hoon” in the background music. The video was captioned, “Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired”.

Dhoni’s Records in all format

Test Cricket:

• Under Dhoni’s captaincy, India topped the Test cricket rankings for the first time, in 2009.
• Dhoni is the first Indian wicket-keeper to complete 4,000 Test runs.
• Dhoni’s maiden century against Pakistan in Faisalabad (148) is the fastest century scored by an Indian wicket-keeper, and fourth overall.
• After hitting a six in the third Test against England in Southampton, Dhoni completed 50 sixes as a captain, an Indian record.
• Dhoni, with 294 dismissals in his career, ranks first in the all-time dismissals list by Indian wicket-keepers.
• Dhoni shares the record for most dismissals in an innings (6, with Syed Kirmani, Wriddhiman Saha and Rishabh Pant) by an Indian wicket-keeper.

One Day Internationals:

• Dhoni is third captain (and the first non-Australian) overall to win 100 games.
• Fourth Indian to reach 10,000 ODI runs after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly & Rahul Dravid and also the second wicket-keeper to reach the milestone.
• First player to pass 10,000 runs in ODI cricket with having a career average of over 50.
• Dhoni has the fifth highest batting average (51.09), among cricketers with more than 5,000 runs and the second highest batting average among players with an aggregate of over 10,000 runs.
• Most career runs in ODI history when batting at number 6 position (4031).
• Only player to score more than one hundred in ODI cricket when batting at number 7 position or lower (Dhoni has 2 centuries at number 7).
• Most not outs (84) in ODIs.
• First Indian and fifth overall to hit 200 sixes in ODIs.
• Dhoni’s 183* against Sri Lanka in 2005 is the highest score by a wicket-keeper.
• Dhoni’s 113 against Pakistan in Chennai in 2012 is the highest by a captain batting at number 7.
• Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar were involved in a partnership of 100 not out against Sri Lanka, which is India’s highest eighth wicket partnership in ODIs.
• Most unbeaten innings and highest average (among batsmen with more that 20 such innings) in successful ODI run-chases.
• Holds the record for playing the most matches in ODI history as captain who has also served as a wicket-keeper(200)
• Dhoni holds the records of the most dismissals in an innings (6) and career (432) by an Indian wicket-keeper.
• Dhoni has the most stumpings (120) by any wicket-keeper in an ODI career also in an innings (3) and is so far the only keeper to pass 100 stumpings.
• First Indian wicket-keeper to take 300 ODI catches and fourth wicket-keeper in the world to achieve the feat.

Twenty20 Internationals:

• Most matches as captain in T20Is (72).
• Most matches in T20I history as both captain and wicket-keeper (72).
• Most consecutive T20I innings without a duck (84).
• Dhoni holds the record for playing the most T20I innings (76) and scored the most runs(1,153) before scoring a fifty.
• Most dismissals as wicket-keeper in T20Is (87).
• Most catches as wicket-keeper in T20Is (54).
• Most stumpings as wicket-keeper in T20Is (33).
• Joint most catches as wicket keeper in a T20I innings (5).

Achievements:

• ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2008, 2009
• ICC World ODI XI: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 (captain in 2009, 2011–2014)
• Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year: 2011
• ICC Men’s ODI team of the decade: 2011 – 2020 (captain and wicketkeeper)
• ICC Men’s T20I team of the decade: 2011 -2020 (captain and wicketkeeper)
• ICC Spirit of the cricket award of the decade: 2011 – 2020
• MTV Youth Icon of the Year: 2006
• LG People’s Choice Award: 2013
• Honorary doctorate degree by De Montfort University in August 2011
• CNN-News18 Indian of the Year: 2011
• In 2019 Jharkhand Cricket association named their stadium’s South stand after Dhoni.

Biopic in bollywood

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’. It was a box office hit and was acclaimed by critics and experts.

Controversies:

Alleged rift with seniors

It all started in the year 2007 when he was made Captain. It was alleged that he was the reason behind Ganguly and Dravids exclusion from the ODI team for the CB series in Australia. And then ahead of the 2009 T20 World Cup, several reports claimed that there was a rift between him and the vice-captain Virender Sehwag.

He even came out with a statement to squash these rumours.”Recent reports in the Indian media of a rift between myself and Sehwag amounts to nothing but false and irresponsible media reporting,” he said.

And then during the 2011-12 CB series, he claimed that he cant play Sachin, Sehwag and Gambhir in the same team since they are slow on the field. Eventually, Sachin retired a few months later and Sehwag and Gambhir were dropped due to poor form.

IPL spot-fixing scandal

It’s perhaps the darkest chapter in Dhoni’s otherwise illustrious playing career. When the infamous IPL spot-fixing scandal rocked the Indian cricket in 2013, Dhoni’s silence raised several eyebrows. For Dhoni, who has always preferred to go about his work quietly, it was a tough phase as his silence was misunderstood. He didn’t utter a single word even though CSK and Rajasthan Royals were later suspended for two years (2015-17).

Later, Dhoni was accused by a prosecution lawyer of ‘not being entirely honest’ with the investigators. He finally opened up on the incident when Hotstarmade a documentary after CSK’s successful comeback in IPL 2018.

“2013 was the most difficult phase in my life; I was never depressed as much as I was then. The closest was 2007 World Cup when we lost in the group stages. But all said and done, 2007 happened because we did not play good cricket”

Said Dhoni

The usually calm and collected Dhoni broke his silence on the issue and said,

“I know one thing, irrespective of what is there, when it comes to Indian cricket, my name keeps popping up. This has been settled, but again something new will pop up. It keeps popping up. I am quite used to it. If there is nothing, some speculative story comes up, big or small. I have to keep dealing with all these things. It is [just] the end of one story, something else may start in a couple of days’ time, and you can monitor it.”

Yuvi’s father allegations

I feel really ashamed when other cricketers come and tell me about Dhoni. Earlier, I used to think that people must be cribbing about Dhoni due to jealousy. But when the cricketers told me about him, I think I have never seen a terrible person like him ever in my life.

These were the words uttered by Yuvraj Singhs father Yograj Singh recently to which Dhoni never responded. In fact, Yuvraj took it upon himself to clear the air and revealed on Twitter that he has always had a great relationship with Dhoni. This wasn’t the first time Dhoni was accused by a players father. Earlier in 2013 during the spot fixing controversy, Sreesanth’s dad claimed that Dhoni and Harbhajan were trying to ruin his sons career.

Conflict of interest

Just ahead of the 2013 Champions Trophy in England, Dhoni was accused of holding stakes with Rhiti sports who were managing him, Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Pragyan Ojha. The company denied the allegations and declared that he did not have any stakes at that particular time.

Fined for post-match comments

It’s not very often that you see Captain Cool MS Dhoni accusing the umpire of something. But during the IPL qualifier against the Mumbai Indians, Dwayne Smith was given out lbw in the very first over of CSK’s chase when the ball clearly appeared going down leg. The skipper during the post-match presentation termed the decision ‘horrible’ and subsequently was fined 10% of his match fee.

Style Quotient:

MS Dhoni’s knack for cars and bikes is not hidden from anyone as the legendary cricketer has often expressed his love for automobiles. The 40-year-old is also regularly seen on his wide range of superbikes and cars on the streets of Ranchi or inside his farmhouse. The petrolhead regularly keeps adding new automotives to his huge collection of cars and bikes. Let’s look at what all vehicles are found in the garage of Captain Cool.

Money Factor:

Now that MS Dhoni has retired from international cricket, the main source of his income is the IPL contract and brand endorsements.

Property

Dhoni has an enormous house that he owns in Ranchi, his hometown. He designed the house himself and it is worth Rs. 6 crore. Reportedly, Dhoni also owns a farmhouse in Ranchi, and has built another home in the old part of town.

Investments

• Sports Fit Pvt. Ltd.

Known for sharp reflexes behind the stumps, MS Dhoni has always believed in keeping himself fit. His love for health and fitness is second to none. The former India skipper has a large stake in Sports Fit Pvt. Ltd.

Mahi owns more than 200 gyms across the country. Sports Fit has 11 fitness centres in leading cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Ghaziabad, among others at the moment. It will soon open its gyms in Australia, the Middle East, Singapore, and England, besides boosting its base in India.

• Chennaiyin FC

MS Dhoni is the co-owner of popular Indian Super League (ISL) franchise Chennaiyin FC, along with renowned Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan. Mahi has often been spotted during the games of Chennaiyin FC in ISL.

• Ranchi Rays

Apart from football, Dhoni has also invested in a Hockey team. The legendary cricketer is the co-owner of Ranchi Rays – the Jharkhand-based franchise which plays in the Hockey India League (HIL). Ranchi Rays were formerly known as the Ranchi Rhinos and had won the marquee tournament in 2015.

• Mahi Racing Team India

If there was an option to invest in every single sport, MS Dhoni would be the first person to do so. The Ranch-born star also owns a Supersport World Championship franchise – Mahi Racing Team India.  Telugu Film Star Actor Akkineni Nagarjuna had also joined hands with Dhoni’s racing team.

• Mahi Hotel

This is probably one of the least famous business investments of MS Dhoni so far because very few people know that he also owns a hotel under the name of Hotel Mahi Residency. Notably, MS Dhoni-owned hotel does not have any other franchise. It is located in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

• SEVEN7

In 2016, he had launched his own lifestyle brand SEVEN. Named after his iconic jersey number, SEVEN deals in clothing and footwear. Notably, Dhoni owns the footwear side of the brand, Masterstroke while the rest of it is owned by RS Seven Lifestyle. He is also the global brand ambassador of the company.

• InkBrews

Dhoni also became a shareholder in a Food and Beverages start-up, 7InkBrews, which launched its new range of products, artisanal chocolates, and beverages earlier this year. 7InkBrews launched its chocolates under the brand name of Copter7 – inspired by the iconic helicopter shot of Dhoni and his jersey number. This Mumbai-based company was founded by Mohit Bhagchandani.

• Rhiti Sports

The 2011 World-Cup winning captain has stakes in Rhiti Sports which is an Indian sports marketing & management firm. Faf du Plessis and Bhuvneshwar Kumar are some of the prominent names from the cricket fraternity handled by the firm.

• Khatabook

MS Dhoni also invested his money in the Bangalore-based startup Khatabook and also became the brand ambassador of the app. The startup has reportedly raised over 29 million USD so far and Mahi has also invested his money in the company. Khatabook helps small businesses across India to manage their own accounts and ledgers digitally. The app also gives reminders to its users via WhatsApp and SMS for collecting money and making due payments.

• Organic farming

Apart from various famous brands and sports teams, MS Dhoni has also invested his time and money in organic farming, Eeja Farms. He has been using around 10 acres of land in his 43-acre farmhouse located at Ring Road in Sembo village, Ranchi. Fruits and vegetables like strawberries, cabbage, tomatoes, broccoli, peas, hock, and papaya are extensively cultivated in his luxurious farmhouse. 

Production House

MS Dhoni has a production house named Dhoni Entertainment. The first show produced under this banner was a documentary web series premiered on Hotstar – Roar of the Lion. The series had MS Dhoni himself in the lead role and was based on the time he spent with Chennai Super Kings in the IPL.

Dhoni Contact Information:

Awards and Honours:

National Honours:

• 2018: Padma Bhushan, India’s third-highest civilian award.
• 2009: Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award.
• 2007–08: Major Dhyanchand Khel Ratna award, India’s highest honor given for achievement in sports.

Apart from these, Dhoni also holds the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army

Philanthrophic Work:

• MS Dhoni’s Charitable Foundation gained £20,000 (‘18.62 lakh) out of the £300,000 (‘2.8 crore) raised during the inaugural T20 fundraiser, ‘Cricket for Heroes’ held at The KIA Oval in 2015. This amount was handed over to the Indian Army in support of the wounded and severely injured soldiers in the line of duty.

• MS Dhoni works closely with the Rhiti Charitable Foundation that organises such cricket matches and other fundraising for the poor.

• MS Dhoni was recently criticized for having donated ‘1 lakh to help fight coronavirus in India. A reputed Indian journalist shed some light on the reality of the MS Dhoni donation story. While the amount was spot on, Dhoni did not donate the same to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund but to a Pune-based NGO called Mukul Madhav. The NGO reportedly had a target of ‘12.5 lakh as donations for charitable activities in healthcare, social welfare and the education sector, which Dhoni helped fulfil with the donation.

• He donated 2 crores to CRPF before the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 opening match at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.

• Rhiti Charitable Foundation was started in 2010 in order to give opportunities to young athletes from cities that have limited exposure to sports facilities

• As per an article on Yourstory, MS Dhoni is among the top charitable cricketers of India. The list also has Kapil Dev, Yuvraj Singh and Sachin Tendulkar.

• The Better India in their article mentioned how MS Dhoni raised a huge sum of 20,000 pounds by playing a charity cricket match.

Some Lesser Known Facts about MS Dhoni

• MS Dhoni’s actual surname is “Dhauni”. It was wrongly entered in school certificates, which couldn’t be rectified later despite multiple requests.

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

• In 2002, while competing for a place in the Indian team, Dhoni fell in love with a girl named Priyanka Jha. Unfortunately she died in a car accident.

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

• Dhoni learnt his trademark “Helicopter Shot” from his childhood friend Santosh Lal, who passed away in July 2013.