Dhoni says his parenet from Uttarakhand.
United states, united nationsFULL COVERAGE
Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s incredible journey from dusty playgrounds in Ranchi to leading the most influential cricket team in the world spans only four years.
The recent twist in the tale is his captaining the Chennai team in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
All other captains, barring Shane Warne, are leading their home teams. Virender Sehwag is from Delhi, Yuvraj Singh from Punjab, Rahul Dravid is a Bangalore boy. But Dhoni is from Jharkhand.
“It’s a different experience,” Dhoni said about captaining Chennai. “The culture is completely different.
“My parents are from Uttarakhand, which is now Uttaranchal. I was born and brought up in Bihar and now it is Jharkhand. I am getting to know people out here better and I am getting used to the hot and humid climate here.”
He added that it is a good opportunity to learn more about the culture of South India.
But in a team which has players from all over the world, the learning experience is unlikely to be limited to only south India.
Dhoni said that while his team has a lot of international players, India itself is so vast that everywhere the culture is different.
“Like (Manpreet) Ghony is from Punjab and there are lot of players from South India. Then of course we have international players from South Africa, New Zealand, Australia etc. It is interesting to know about them and about their cultures.”
Not many cricketers can boast of having led a team, which has the likes of Stephen Fleming, considered by many as one of the best captains in contemporary cricket.
The Chennai IPL team also has Matthew Hayden, Jacob Oram and Muttiah Muralitharan.
“It’s always a pleasure to captain a side that has stars, players with a lot of experience at the international level,” Dhoni said.
“And they give a lot of inputs not only on the field but off the field, when you are going through team meetings, net sessions etc.
Poll