MS Dhoni birthday special : 10 interesting facts about Captain Cool!

We love him, we hate him and we love him again, the most popular and definitely the most scrutinized cricketer from India, the man who led Team India to No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings for the first time, the first skipper to win the World T20 (2007), World Cup (2011) and now the champions trophy, yes I am talking about none other than the cool, the magnificent, and the one and  only captain of the Indian cricket team, MS Dhoni also known as the “captain cool” a small town boy from Ranchi, Jharkhand who has made it to the top and now, he is the most successful wicket-keeper in India ever, an idol for the present generation and the generations to come. He has always been a true inspirational figure and has provided for some great cricketing moments.

10. One of the highest individual tax payer

Mahendra Singh Dhoni has continuously (from past two years) been the highest individual income taxpayer in Jharkhand state and one of the highest in India. He has already paid Rs 12 crore income tax so far this fiscal(2013). He paid a sum of about Rs 6 crore in September and another Rs 6 crore in December to the income tax department and he is yet to pay his last quarterly amount for this year.

Last year he had paid Rs 4 crore in September, Rs 7 crore in December and Rs 6 crore in March.

9. Second highest endorser

Currently he endorses products of 20 different brands ranging from sports giant like reebok to one the biggest soft drinks manufacturer in the world i.e. pepsi co., making him the second highest in terms of number brand endorsed by a single personality in India followed by bollywood superstar, Shahrukh Khan who endorses 21 different brands.

8. Highest paid cricketer in whole world

In year 2012 Forbes magazine listed MS Dohni as the richest cricketer in the whole world for the first time, he grabbed 31st position on the list of top 100 athletes around the globe, defeating world famous sports celebrities like England’s footballer Wayne Rooney, record holder of world’s fastest running sensation and Olympian gold medalist Usain Bolt, number one tennis player Novak Djokovic, and beside that Dhoni’s earning from endorsements was 4 milllion greater than Lionel Messi(Argentinian football player who stood at number 11). Surprisingly his rank was almost twice ahead as compared to the God of cricket, the master blaster Sachin Tendulkar (previously richest cricketer) who stumbled down to the position of 78.

Yet again in June 2013, Forbes has ranked Dhoni at 16th position in the list of highest paid athletes in the world, estimating his earnings at about $31.5 million i.e. 190 crore rupees.

7. Huge fan of bikes, SUVs and dogs

Mahindra Singh Dhoni is a huge fan of motorcycles and SUVs and he has over 23 bikes in his collection currently ranging from Harley Davidson to Ducati. His most recent acquisition is Confederate X132 Hellcat bike, an exotic muscle bike which is owned only by him in the whole South East Asia and his car collection include SUVs like Hummer H2(his favourite), a powerful and monstrously huge vehicle and the luxury sports vehicle Audi Q7 that goes to a speed of 100km/hr in just 5.5 sec. and can reach a maximum speed electronically limited to 250km/hr.

Not only he likes to buy them but he also rides them in his home town Ranchi whenever he gets a break from cricket. For the sake of his passion he has also launched a racing team at FIM Super sport World Championship by the name MSD R-NR racing Team India.

Dhoni’s fascination for pet dogs recently came into news during this season’s IPL matches when he posted his pic with a dog on twitter. Dhoni has two pet dogs in ranchi, a Labrador named Zarah and an Alsatian named Sam.

6. Love marriage

Sakshi was a childhood friend of Dhoni, both of them went to the same school i.e. DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali (now the school is known as JVM, Shyamli, Ranchi) and also their parents worked at the same company. After a serious committed relationship of two years they decided to marry on 23 of July, 2010 at a farmhouse 25 kilometres off Dehradun. The wedding came as a surprise to the media and the fans as it took place only a day after the couple got engaged though Bipasha basu (Bollywood actress and Dhoni’s good friend) after clarified that marriage was already planned months earlier and was not a decision taken suddenly.

5. The helicopter shot

An innovative shot invented and popularised by Mahendra Singh Dhoni  that helps a batsmen score boundaries even off the yorkers. The shot uses a lot more bottom hand and comprises of more pronounced bat swing after the shot is played. The quick rotation of the blade in the follow through of the shot explains the name “Helicopter” associated with it.

Dhoni says that he started playing this shot much before his glory days, when he used to play with a tennis ball. He admits that the shot is not as easy to play as it looks like and if it is wrongly implemented the shot can result in a toe injury. That probably is a clear explanation as per why not many other batsmen have mastered the shot.

4. Why were the Long hair cut short??

All of us are familiar about the fact that once Dhoni had long hair, which are now cut short even though the former pak president  Pervez Musharraf wanted him not to do so! The reason initially reported by him was that he wanted to look like his favourite bollywood star John Abraham (actor/producer). But after a few years the truth finally emerged that this was indeed his beloved wife Sakshi’s ‘decision’!

3. All-time greatest captain of India

He has broken many records during his carrier most famous of which is when he became the most successful Indian Test captain with 22 Test victories, surpassing Sourav Ganguly’s  record of 21 victories from 49 Tests. Ganguly also said in an interview to a news channel that Dhoni is the all-time greatest captain of India and now he has a great record to support this credential. Not only this, his ODI record is also the best among all the Indian captains to date.

2. Not interested in cricket

Initially Dhoni was not much interested in cricket and used to play and excel in sports like badminton and football and was also selected at club and district level in these sports. He was a goalkeeper for his football team and was sent to play cricket for a local club by his coach and though he had not played cricket before, still he was able to impress everyone with his wicket-keeping skills and became the regular wicketkeeper at the Commando cricket club (1995–98).

1. The struggle as a ticket collector

In 1998 Dhoni played for the Bihar U-19 team but the team lost against Punjab in final, but due to his excellent performance he was selected to play for Bihar in the Ranji Trophy, and side by side Dhoni started working as a ticket collector at the Kharagpur railway station from year 2001 to 2003 to support his family.

After successful first class seasons in 2003 and 2004, Dhoni was picked to play for the India-A team and from there he caught the attention of selectors and was picked to play for India and thus started his international cricket career. Though his debut was a big disaster and he got run out on his first ball against Bangladesh.

But it was only in his 5th ODI that he could prove his true worth by playing a smashing innings of 148 against Pakistan and a few matches later, he scored a record 183 against Sri Lanka, which is the highest score made by any batsman in the second innings at that time, and from there on he never looked back and rest they say is history.

We wish a very happy birthday to our Captain Cool and wish him all the success and happiness in his life.

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