Alongside his passion for the sport he made a career out of, former India captain MS Dhoni has a special place in his heart reserved for the Indian Armed Forces as well. The veteran wicket-keeper batter, in fact, holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Territorial Army Unit of the Parachute Regiment (106 Para TA battalion), an honour he was accorded by India’s president in 2011.
Advertisement
In the year 2015, he had even become a qualified paratrooper after completing five parachute training jumps from the Indian Army aircraft in Agra. A few days after the end of ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, he had spent three weeks at his battalion which is headquartered in Bengaluru.
Dhoni, who had once received a cash prize worth INR 2 lakh, had once even presented a cheque of INR 2 crore to the Central Reserve Police Force.
CSK’s MS Dhoni Had Presented Cheque Of INR 2 Crore To CRPF
In the capacity of the captain of his Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni had presented the cheque to the representatives of CRPF at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai, in March 2019. It was the day of IPL 2019 opening match in the South Indian city.
BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) had decided to cancel the opening ceremony for a new IPL season and instead conducted a felicitation program in remembrance of the 40 CRPF personnel who had lost their lives during the Pulwama terror attack the previous month.
While the BCCI had donated INR 20 crore to the different wings of the Indian Armed forces, CSK had donated their earnings (INR 2 crore) via ticket sales of the opening match of that season to CRPF.
“Chennai’s first home match ticket proceeds will go towards the families of the victims of Pulwama Attack. Captain MS Dhoni, who is honorary Lt. Colonel of the Indian territorial army, will present the cheque,” Rakesh Singh, CSK’s director, had announced a couple of days before the season opener.
MS Had Recieved INR 2 Lakh From An Actor-Politician In 2006
A certain tweet is doing rounds across social media which refers to the fact that Dhoni had received a cheque of INR 2 lakh back in 2006 as a gift from a renowned public figure from Karnataka.
Late Malavalli Huchchegowda Amarnath (popular as Ambareesh), the famed Kannada actor and politician, had presented the cheque to the legendary cricketer from a small town of Ranchi. Reason? He had watched an interview wherein Dhoni’s father had stated that there wasn’t much space in his house to entertain the influx of visitors arriving to congratulate his son for the fame he had garnered.
A cricket fan himself, Ambareesh was apparently moved after realizing Dhoni’s humble family background and had presented him the cheque at the KSCA stadium in Alur (Bengaluru).
Found this priceless treasure of a pic today !
2006 , when Ambareesh presented a cheque of 2 lakhs at KSCA stadium to M S Dhoni who was the bright upcoming cricketer back then !
He had seen an interview where Dhoni’s father had apparently said that now Dhoni was getting popular… pic.twitter.com/yjugTq5ixY— Sumalatha Ambareesh 🇮🇳 ಸುಮಲತಾ ಅಂಬರೀಶ್ (@sumalathaA) August 24, 2023
The above tweet was posted by Sumalatha (Ambareesh’s wife), an Indian actress and also a current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Mandya, Karnataka. While Dhoni is seen donning the Indian team jersey with his wicket-keeping pads on, there is no record of the Indian team playing an international match in Alur. The above picture might have been taken from some other stadium, but we cannot confirm the same.
By the end of the year 2006, Dhoni had already played 15 Tests and 59 ODIs for India.
