30 things you didn't know about Dhoni

On his 30th birthday, we thought we’d make a list of 30 things that you did not know about Captain Cool, MS Dhoni. Here they are: 1. He’s a car freak, and his favourite is a Hummer H2. 2. Not just a car freak, he’s a motorcycle freak as well, owning 23 bikes (as of date). His favourite, reportedly, is his Harley Davidson. [caption id=“attachment_38114” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Dhoni was a ticket collector in the Railways till he made it to the Indian team. Jewel Samad/AFP”] [/caption] 3. Many of his cars have the license number ‘007’. 4. His hair cut was modelled on the hairstyle of his ‘her’, John Abraham. 5. Dhoni was a football goalkeeper. His football coach sent him to play cricket for a local club team, Commando Cricket Club. 6. Dhoni’s father and his wife Sakshi’s father both worked for the same company, MECON. 7. Dhoni was the most expensive signing of the first IPL auction, contracted by the Chennai Super Kings for $1.5 million. 8. On his ODI debut, Dhoni scored a duck against Bangladesh, out run out. 9. Dhoni received a two-match ban from playing in the ODI series against Sri Lanka for the team’s slow over-rate during the second ODI in Nagpur (18 December 2009) by ICC match referee Jeff Crowe. 10. Dhoni has the highest average among Indian batsmen who have played more than 50 matches. 11. Dhoni tied up with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes in July 2010 for representing him in brand endorsement deals and had been promised a minimum guarantee of Rs 210 crore over the next three years. 12. Only Shah Rukh Khan has more brand endorsements than Dhoni. [caption id=“attachment_38115” align=“alignright” width=“390” caption=“Dhoni’s father and his wife Sakshi’s father both worked for the same company, MECON. Indranil Mukherjee/AFP”] [/caption] 13. Dhoni has scored only 12 ducks in 277 international innings played to date. 14. On the last day of the Border-Gavaskar trophy 4th Test at Nagpur, Dhoni ‘gifted’ Saurav Ganguly the captaincy for the day. 15. Dhoni’s T-shirt number is 7. 16. Dhoni was a ticket collector in the Railways till he made it to the Indian team. 17. Dhoni was voted as MTV Youth Icon 2006. 18. Dhoni’s favourite dish, reportedly, is chicken butter masala. 19. Dhoni is a big Kishore Kumar fan. 20. Dhoni shares his birthday with Kailash Kher, a fact he seems to be proud to acknowledge. 21. Dhoni is an English Premiership and Formula One fan. 22. On his official (verified) Facebook page, Dhoni has listed two likes: Ravichandran Ashwin and Gautam Gambhir. 23. This was his status update to his FB friends: Thnkx every1 for d wishes !! Lukin forwrd for todays day !:D 24. His official verified twitter handle is @msdhoni. 25. Dhoni has three dogs: Sam, a German shepherd, Zara, a black labrador and Zoya, a Weimaraner. 26. Dhoni is a recipient of both the Padma Shri and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna awards. 27. Dhoni “loves” Shaggy. 28. Dhoni’s house was once vandalised by JMM activists. 29. TIME magazine added Dhoni in its “Time 100” list of 100 most influential people of 2011. 30. Sachin Tendulkar has rated Dhoni “the best captain” that he has played under.