MS Dhoni, former India skipper is considered one of the greatest cricketers to have played for India. During his tenure as a skipper, he led the Men in Blue to various titles. The Chennai Super Kings captain turned 42 on Friday, July 7, 2023. Wishes have been pouring in for the legendary captain as he has a huge fan base across the world.
In the middle of all the wishes, former India batter Wasim Jaffer shared an anecdote about Dhoni. The story goes back to 2005 when the former India skipper told that he want to make 30 Lakhs rupees and spend the rest of his life in his hometown, Ranchi.
Jaffer in an interview with Sportskeeda said, “I remember I made my comeback in the year 2005, and Dhoni was new to the team as he made his debut at the end of 2004 (December 2004) playing One-Day cricket. I used to play Test cricket back then. We used to sit at the back. Me, my wife, Dinesh Karthik, his wife, Dhoni, and RP Singh, we all used to sit in the last few seats. Dhoni used to talk to my wife quite a lot because we used to sit together and we all used to talk a lot.”
“We all know that he used to work in Railways, and had to travel a lot to practice his game. Even after all the struggle, there were times when he did not get an opportunity to play. I think he left that job, or something was the case, and he used to say that he wants to make 30 lakh so that he can spend the rest of his life peacefully in Ranchi and he doesn’t want to leave Ranchi also. He said come what may, he will never leave Ranchi. Since he was very new to the international setup back then, he used to say ‘If I make 30 lakh, that will be enough for me to live peacefully’. That’s how grounded he was, and that’s how grounded I feel he still is. Even after achieving so much in his career after so long, that is the humility of the man. He has small goals and small aims.”
There is a Bollywood movie that was made on MS Dhoni and after that, the whole world came to know about his journey. Thala used to work for India railways and he had to juggle around between cricket and his professional life. Soon he realized that he is born to play cricket and he went on to leave his job.
The Jharkhand-based player started playing for India in 2004 and went on to gather 10773 ODI runs at 50.57, including 10 centuries and 73 half-centuries. His highest ODI score of 183 runs came against Sri Lanka in Jaipur which also happens to be the highest score by a wicket-keeper in the history of 50-over cricket.