Mahendra Singh Dhoni (/məˈheɪndrə ˈsɪŋ dhæˈnɪ/ ⓘ; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian professional cricketer who plays as a right-handed batter and a wicket-keeper. Widely regarded as one of the most prolific wicket-keeper batsmen and captains and one of the greatest ODI batsmen, he represented the Indian cricket team and was the captain of the side in limited overs formats from 2007 to 2017 and in test cricket from 2008 to 2014. Dhoni has captained the most international matches and is the most successful Indian captain. He has led India to victory in the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2011 Cricket World Cup, and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy, being the only captain to win three different limited overs ICC tournaments. He also led the teams that won the Asia Cup in 2010, 2016 and was a member of the title winning squad in 2018.
Born in Ranchi, Dhoni made his first class debut for Bihar in 1999. He made his debut for the Indian cricket team on 23 December 2004 in an ODI against Bangladesh and played his first test a year later against Sri Lanka. In 2007, he became the captain of the ODI side before taking over in all formats by 2008. Dhoni retired from test cricket in 2014 but continued playing in limited overs cricket till 2019. He has scored 17,266 runs in international cricket including 10,000 plus runs at an average of more than 50 in ODIs.
In the Indian Premier League (IPL), Dhoni plays for Chennai Super Kings (CSK), leading them to the final on ten occasions and winning it five times (2010, 2011, 2018, 2021 and 2023 ) jointly sharing this title with Rohit Sharma . He has also led CSK to two Champions League T20 titles in 2010 and 2014. Dhoni is among the few batsmen to have scored more than five thousand runs in the IPL, as well as being the first wicket-keeper to do so.
In 2008, Dhoni was awarded India's highest sport honour Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award by Government of India. He received the fourth highest civilian award Padma Shri in 2009 and third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan in 2018. Dhoni holds an honorary rank of Lieutenant colonel in the Parachute Regiment of the Indian Territorial Army which was presented to him by the Indian Army in 2011.
Early life
Dhoni was born on 7 July 1981 in Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand) in a Hindu Rajput family to Pan Singh and Devaki Devi.[3][4] His parents hailed from Lwali village in Uttar Pradesh (now Uttarakhand) and he was the youngest of three children.[5][6][7] His family spells the surname as "Dhauni".[8] The spelling "Dhoni" emerged due to a spelling mistake in his school certificates and, despite repeated attempts by his family, has never been rectified.[9]
Dhoni did his schooling from DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, where he started playing football as a goalkeeper, but later moved to play cricket on the suggestion of his coach Keshav Banerjee.[10][11] From 2001 to 2003, Dhoni worked as a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) at Kharagpur under South Eastern Railway zone of Indian Railways.[12][13]
Youth career
He played as a wicket-keeper for Commando cricket club from 1995 to 1998 and Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team in 1998.[14] At CCL, he batted higher up the order and helped the team qualify to the higher division.[15] Based on his performance at club cricket, he was picked for the 1997/98 season of Vinoo Mankad Trophy under-16 championship.[16][17] In the 1998–99, Dhoni played for Bihar U-19 team in the Cooch Behar Trophy and scored 176 runs in 5 matches. In the 1999–2000 Cooch Behar Trophy, the Bihar U-19 cricket team made it to the finals, where Dhoni made 84 in a losing cause.[18] Dhoni's contribution in the tournament included 488 runs in nine matches with five fifties, 17 catches and seven stumpings.[19] Dhoni made it to the East Zone U-19 squad for the C. K. Nayudu Trophy in the 1999–2000 season and scored only 97 runs in four matches, as East Zone lost a
