MS Dhoni

Fondly known as “Mahi” among his fellow players, the undying euphoria building up around him reached a crescendo as India won the 2007 Twenty20 Cricket World Cup under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's dynamic captaincy. The success also led to his debut as the captain of ODI Indian team in the October 2007 series against Australia. Well-known for his aggressive batting style as a right hand batsman and excellent wicketkeeping skills, the chief quality, which sets Dhoni apart from other cricketers is the ability to display dynamism with maturity on the field making it relatively easy for him to cope with pressure situations effectively. Bursting with immense levels of confidence, his long flowing hair further adds to the dynamism and charisma of Dhoni's persona which also helped him earn the title of MTV Youth Icon 2006. He is known to be a thoroughly sporty kind of guy who loves to ride bikes and play badminton in his spare time. Adam Gilchrist has been a cricketing idol for Dhoni whom he rightly matches in terms of his aggressive presence on the field and wicketkeeping acumen.

Born on the 7th of July, 1981 in the small-time city of Ranchi in Jharkhand, he studied at the DAV school, Ranchi and played tennis and football at the district and club levels before entering the field of cricket. His father's name is Pan Singh and mother's name is Devki Devi and has two siblings.

Dhoni was the goalkeeper for his football team when the football coach asked him to play for a cricket club where he proved to be an instant success as a wicketkeeper. He played as a regular wicketkeeper for the Commando Cricket Club from 1995 to 1998 and was also selected for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under 16-Championship in 1997-98 season. Starting his domestic cricketing career with Bihar cricket team in 1998-99, Dhoni made his Ranji trophy debut for Bihar in 1999-2000 season.

Impressing one and all with his exceptional cricketing skills, he was selected to play for India A team in the 2003-04 season and eventually made his way to the international ODI squad for India in 2004-05 for a Bangladesh Tour. Mahendra Singh Dhoni secured his place in the side with a memorable knock of 148 runs off just 123 balls in 5th match of the series played against Pakistan. This was followed by another outstanding knock of 183 against Sri Lanka later that year which heralded the arrival of another cricketing maestro with the power and technique to diminish the strongest opposition in no time.

His career as a test wicketkeeper started in December 2005 against Sri Lanka and in his 5t test match Dhoni scored his maiden test century against Pakistan with a cracking 148. There was no looking back after that and Dhoni went ahead to make a remarkable contribution to the Indian side as an aggressive fast-scoring batsman and a wicketkeeper par-excellence. The meteoric rise of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as one of the best players in the international cricketing arena bodes well for the future of Indian cricket which he keeps on proving time and again with his outstanding performances on the field.