Dhoni born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand, is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian Twenty-Twenty and ODI team. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 World Twenty-Twenty (20-20 world cup).

He had not really played cricket until that time, but Mahi provided immediate evidence of his wicket-keeping skills and became the regular keeper for the Commando Cricket Club (1995-98). Based on his club cricket performances, he was picked for the 1997-98 Vinoo Mankad Trophy U-16 Championship and did very well indeed. Football’s loss thus became cricket’s gain, and Mahi made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in 1999-2000 as an 18-year-old, coming through the ranks of the Bihar and East Zone U-19 squads.

Today, Mahendra Singh Dhoni typifies savage batting and athletic wicket keeping on the cricket field, while off it, his rugged handsomeness, natural sense of style and easy smile have earned him a vast fan base, a large percentage of it female. Ask him how he handles all the female adulation, and his typical response is a grin and, “I don’t know much about it. Why don’t you ask the girls?” Shy guy!

But there’s nothing shy about his approach to cricket. “I feel we [cricketers from small towns] are tougher than players from metros. In Ranchi, there were no academies, good gyms, or high-profile coaches, so we had to learn cricket the hard way. But I never wanted to be anything but a sportsman”, he says. The same determination is evident in his approach to batting. “Mind, strategy, and attitude are important. You can’t let anything affect you during a match. You have to improve your own game to stay ahead in this world,” is his dictum.

There’s fire in that belly, and the world can’t get enough of it! Like his role models Adam Gilchrist and Tendulkar, Mahi himself has become an inspiration for millions of young Indians. His message for them: “Never give up.”

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