Ms Dhoni Early Life

Dhoni was born on 7 July 1981 in Ranchi, then part of Bihar and now in Jharkhand.

• Father: Pan Singh, who worked at the public-sector company MECON
• Mother: Devaki Devi
• He is the youngest of three children.

The family originally comes from Lwali village in Almora district, Uttarakhand. The family spells its surname "Dhauni"; "Dhoni" came from a spelling error on a school certificate.

He studied at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, Ranchi. There he was a football goalkeeper and badminton player until his football coach sent him to play as wicket-keeper for the local cricket club.

From 2001 to 2003 he worked as a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) with the Indian Railways at Kharagpur station, while playing cricket for the railway team and in domestic matches.