MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni: A Brief Biography

Mahendra Singh Dhoni, commonly known as MS Dhoni, is a former cricketer who represented India on the international stage for around 15 years. On the domestic level, Dhoni played first-class cricket for Jharkhand.

Dhoni used to captain the Indian national team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2016 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He has led India to the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 victory, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cup victories, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup victory, and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy victory. He is also the present captain of Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League.

Dhoni was a wicketkeeper-batter and batted in the middle order, predominantly playing the finisher’s role. Dhoni is one of the few cricketers with more than 10,000 runs in ODIs. Experts deem Dhoni to be one of the best "finishers" in limited-overs formats in World Cricket. Many also regarded him as one of the best wicket-keepers in modern limited-overs international cricket.

MS Dhoni: Along the Years

MS Dhoni Records

MS Dhoni played his ODI debut series at the age of 23. At the young age of 26, MS Dhoni led India to a win in the Inaugural ICC T20 World Cup 2007. Four years later, MS Dhoni led India to its 2nd ODI World Cup Win. At the age of 33, MS Dhoni won his last ICC Tournament as a Captain of the Indian Cricket Team. MS Dhoni played his last international match for India on July 10, 2019.

MS Dhoni Test Records

• Led India to No. 1 Test cricket rankings for the first time, in 2009.

• Most successful Indian Test captain with 27 Test wins.

• Most overseas Test defeats by an Indian captain - 15.

• First Indian wicket-keeper to complete 4,000 Test runs.

• Third-highest score by an Indian captain - 224 against Australia in Chennai.

• Fastest century scored by an Indian wicket-keeper, and the fourth overall - 148 v Pak

• 50 sixes by an Indian captain.

• Most dismissals by Indian wicket-keepers - 294

• Most stumpings by any wicket-keeper in a Test career - 38

• Most dismissals in an innings by an Indian Wicket Keeper - 6 tied with Syed Kirmani

MS Dhoni ODI Records

• Third captain (and the first non-Australian) overall to win 100 games.

• Fourth Indian to reach 10,000 ODI runs.

• First player to pass 10,000 runs in ODI cricket with a career average of over 50.

• Dhoni has the fifth-highest batting average (51.09) with more than 5,000 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 - 2

• Most not-outs in ODIs - 82

• First Indian and fifth overall to hit 200 sixes in ODIs.

• Highest score by a wicket-keeper in ODIs - 183* vs SL

• India's highest eighth wicket partnership in ODIs - 100 runs not out, Dhoni and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

• Most unbeaten innings and highest average in successful ODI run-chases.

• Played the most matches in ODI history as captain who has also served as a wicket-keeper - 200

• Most dismissals in an innings by an Indian Wicket Keeper - 6

• Most dismissals in a career by an Indian Wicket Keeper career - 432

• Most stumpings by any wicket-keeper in an ODI career - 120

• First Indian wicket-keeper to take 300 ODI catches and the fourth wicket-keeper in the world to achieve the feat.

MS Dhoni T20I Records

• 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

• Most catches as wicketkeeper in a T20I inning - 5

Also, see - Virat Kohli's Biography

• Most international matches as captain - 332

• Dhoni is the first, and so far only, wicket-keeper to effect 150 stumping dismissals across the three forms of the game. His current total of stumpings in internationals stands at 161.

MS Dhoni Awards and Accolades

National honors

• 2018: Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award.

• 2009: Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian award.

• 2007−08: Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, India's highest honor given for achievement in sports.

Sporting honors

• 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)

• ICC World Test XI: 2009, 2010, 2013

• Castrol Indian Cricketer of the Year: 2011

Other honors and awards

• MTV Youth Icon of the Year: 2006

• LG People's Choice Award: 2013

• Honorary doctorate from De Montfort University in August 2011

MS Dhoni Career

MS Dhoni has had one of the most decorated careers as a batter, wicketkeeper, and skipper. He is considered one of the greatest cricketers to have played the game and has been celebrated for his unorthodox style of play, winning mentality, and tactical prowess.

MS Dhoni Domestic Career

Dhoni was selected in 1998 by Deval Sahay to play for the Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) team. This was the first time that Dhoni stepped into professional cricket. Dhoni showed exceptional talent which impressed Deval Sahay who used his contacts in the Bihar Cricket Association to push for his selection in the Bihar team.

Dhoni debuted for the senior Bihar Ranji Team for the 1999–2000 season. He was also included in the Bihar U-19 squad for the 1998–99 season where he scored 176 runs in 7 innings from 5 matches. Dhoni however was not picked for the East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or the Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy). Dhoni made a first-class debut in Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999–2000 season. He was just eighteen years old at that moment.

After playing Ranji Trophy for over three years, Dhoni was picked over international cricketer Deep Dasgupta to represent East Zone. It was then that Dhoni stepped into the limelight. Dhoni was scouted by BCCI's small-town talent-spotting initiative TRDW and discovered by TRDO Prakash Poddar. Dhoni was selected for the India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya. His performances on that tour earned him the attention of the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri.

MS Dhoni IPL Career

Dhoni's services were contracted by the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for USD 1.5 million in IPL's inaugural season in 2008. He was the most expensive player in the first season of the IPL. Dhoni has led CSK to five IPL titles (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021, and 2023), the joint-most titles as a skipper (along with Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma) in the tournament’s history. He has also won the 2010 and 2014 Champions League T20 titles with CSK. Dhoni had an excellent run with CSK both as a batter and a skipper.

After CSK was banned for two years, Dhoni was subsequently bought by Rising Pune Supergiant for USD 1.9 Million in 2016. He was the captain that year but after his team finished in 7th place, he was replaced by Steven Smith.

Dhoni came back roaring with his troops in IPL 2018 and had a fairytale run, helping CSK lift their third IPL trophy. Dhoni’s CSK reached the final for a record eighth time in 2019 but was stopped by a resurgent Mumbai Indians side that won the final by a whisker.

Dhoni and his men had a forgettable season in 2020, with CSK missing out on a playoff spot for the first time since the IPL began. Dhoni assured fans that the team would come back stronger in the next season and he kept his word, as the Super Kings won IPL 2021, their fourth title. They defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders in the final.

Ahead of IPL 2022, Dhoni handed over the captaincy to Ravindra Jadeja, but the move backfired as Dhoni had to take over the role from Jadeja, who succumbed to the pressures of captaincy and saw a dip in his form. CSK finished in the ninth position that season, their worst season in IPL history.

CSK roared back in 2023 to win an absolute thriller in the final against the then-defending champions Gujarat Titans off the last ball, thanks to Jadeja’s finish with the bat. Dhoni lifted Chennai’s fifth IPL trophy and became the skipper with the joint-most IPL titles (along with Mumbai Indians’ Rohit Sharma) in the tournament’s history.

Ahead of IPL 2024, Dhoni handed over the captaincy to Ruturaj Gaikwad, who is leading the Chennai Super Kings in the ongoing IPL season.

MS Dhoni International Career

MS Dhoni had a spectacular international career, scoring 17,226 runs in 538 matches. He won three ICC trophies as a skipper (ICC WT20 2007, ICC CWC 2011, and ICC Champions Trophy 2013). In addition, he affected 829 dismissals as a wicketkeeper. Dhoni retired from international cricket on August 15, 2020.

MS Dhoni ODI Career

MS Dhoni arrived on the international stage when the Indian ODI team was struggling to find its Wicketkeeper-Batsman. We saw Rahul Dravid in the 2000s and then the arrival of wicket-keeper/batsman from the junior ranks such as Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik. But they did not fit the team combination well. Then came in Dhoni, who was picked for the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05.

Dhoni had the most disastrous start to a career that anyone can ever ask for. Getting run out for a duck on debut is the last thing you want. But, despite ordinary performances in his inaugural series against the Bangladesh cricket team, Dhoni was selected for the series against Pakistan. Dhoni scored his first century in his fifth one-day international. He scored 148 in Visakhapatnam off only 123 deliveries. Thus began the Dhoni era as he mastered the art of finishing in ODIs, averaging 50.57 in the format, with 10 centuries to his name. The Jharkhand wicketkeeper-batter also owns the record for being the quickest to achieve the ICC No. 1 ranking in ODIs in terms of innings (38).

Dhoni’s highest point in his ODI career would be his match-winning unbeaten 91 off 79 balls against Sri Lanka in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 final, earning him the Player of the Match award. MS Dhoni won the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 with a young brigade, beating England in the final in their backyard, and led India to the semifinals in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 in Australia.

His last ODI inning came against New Zealand in the 2019 WC Semifinal where he ended his ODI journey in the same way he started--with a runout. Although there were speculations that MSD would stage a comeback after the 2020 IPL, the unforeseeable circumstances due to COVID-19 ensured that MS Dhoni played his last international game without any farewell.

MS Dhoni Test Career

Dhoni's performances in ODIs against Sri Lanka opened the doors for Test Cricket for him. Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 and was the last man standing in his 30-run journey in his debut test innings. Dhoni went on to score his maiden half-century in the second Test. He was very aggressive with it too, as the half-century came off 51 balls. We witnessed Dhoni in making who was soon going to lead India to the number 1 spot in Tests. He scored a double century against Australia in Chennai in 2013 and is the first and only Indian wicketkeeper to score a double ton in Tests. Dhoni announced a shock retirement from Tests on December 30, 2014, amidst the Test series in Australia as Virat Kohli took over the reins.

MS Dhoni T20I Career

Dhoni was selected for India's first-ever Twenty20 international match. The match was played against South Africa in December 2006. Although Dhoni was out for a duck, he contributed to India's victory with one catch and a runout. The very next year, MS Dhoni was chosen to lead a young Indian team, in the first-ever World T20 in 2007. On September 24, 2007, Dhoni became the second Indian captain to have won a World Cup in any format of cricket, after Kapil Dev. However, Dhoni went on to lead India in another five T20 World Cups, having reached the semi-final and final once each thereafter. Dhoni scored his maiden T20I fifty in a bilateral series against England in Bengaluru in 2017, and played his last T20I match against Australia in 2019.

MS Dhoni Captaincy

MS Dhoni is India's only two-time World Cup-winning captain, achieving victory in different formats, and is considered one of the greatest skippers of all time. He led a young Indian team to the first-ever T20 World Cup victory in South Africa in 2007. Dhoni then led India to their second ODI World Cup victory in 2011. He was also awarded man of the match in the finals against Sri Lanka for his score of an unbeaten 91. The bat which was used by Dhoni in the final match was auctioned for a whopping ₹ 72 Lac. The entire sum of money went to Sakshi Rawat Foundation which was operated by Dhoni's wife Sakshi Rawat to help orphan children. Dhoni also led India to the 2013 Champions Trophy title in England, making him the only captain to win all major ICC titles.

MS Dhoni Family

Dhoni was born on 7 July 1981 in Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand). He was raised in a Hindu Rajput family. His parents belonged to the village of Lwali is in the Lamgara block of Almora District, Uttarakhand. Dhoni's father, Pan Singh worked in junior management positions in MECON.

Dhoni has a sister named Jayanti Gupta and a brother named Narendra Singh Dhoni. On July 4, 2010, Dhoni got married to his schoolmate from DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Sakshi Singh Rawat. The couple gave birth to a beautiful girl on 6 February 2015 and named her Ziva.

MS Dhoni is a qualified paratrooper in the Indian army after he completed five parachute training jumps from Indian Army aircraft in the Agra training camp in 2019.

MS Dhoni's Net Worth

As of 2024, MS Dhoni has an estimated net worth of INR 1050 crores or USD 127 million.

MS Dhoni’s House

MS Dhoni owns a huge farmhouse in Ranchi where he lives with his family.

MS Dhoni’s Cars

MS Dhoni has around 12 cars, including a Ferrari 599, Porsche 911, Audi, Mercedes, Mitsubishi Pajero, Range Rover Hummer H2, and Nissan Jonga.

Check out: MS Dhoni's Complete Bike Collection