By: Tarish Bhatt
MS Dhoni has been an inspirational figure in the Indian cricket team. Dhoni he has shouldered millions of inspirations for a long time. Despite being one of the most followed cricketers, there are very few things that are less known about him.
Let’s look at the 10 unknown facts about MS Dhoni:
1.) MS Dhoni was selected to play football and badminton at club level. He played as a goalkeeper for his school team, but was picked to keep wickets for his school side, and we know the rest.
2.) Despite never playing cricket, MS Dhoni impressed his school coach with wicketkeeping prowess, and become regular player for the Commando Cricket Club.
3.) The BCCI’s small-town talent-spotting initiative discovered him, when he was playing for Jharkhand in Jamshedpur in 2003.
4.) At an age of 18, MS Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar. He quickly grabbed eyeballs of selectors, and was named in the India A squad. Dhoni then broken into the East Zone squad for Deodhar Trophy over international cricketer Deep Dasgupta.
5.) With hardwork and dedication, MS Dhoni soon found himself in the India team for Bangladesh series. He cemented himself a regular with a scorching hundred against Pakistan, and later a record-breaking century against Sri Lanka in Jaipur.
6.) In 2007, MS Dhoni led India to World Cup glory, despite not having any captaincy experience, by winning the World T20. It is said batting legend Sachin Tendulkar recommended his name for captaincy.
7.) MS Dhoni is the only captain to have won all ICC tournaments, namely T20 World Cup, ICC World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. He also led India to top position in Tests and ODIs. Dhoni has also won the Indian Premier League and the Champions League T20.
8.) Dhoni’s captaincy record is simply superb, he is led India to 27 Test and 163+ ODIs wins. His winning percentage is 45 in Tests and 61 in ODIs. Amazing, isn’t it?
9.) MS Dhoni holds the record of most catches in an innings by an Indian player, the feat he achieves against New Zealand in Wellington, by taking six catches.
10.) The current India limited-over captain has been named ICC ODI Player of the Year twice, while also conferred with the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri.
