Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s skill of cricket was as much as that of football. He was the goalkeeper of the school team. After that wherever Dhoni played football, his talent was appreciated by everyone. Even stalwarts from the Indian national football team, Jeje Lalpekhula to Anirudh Thapa, praised his talent.
Not many people know that he also practised several times with the national football players. Even in the Chennaiyin FC squad, a football club based in Chennai, there is no dearth of Dhoni’s fans. Whenever Chennai Super Kings had a practice session a lot of football players of this team used to come to see him. Dhoni had friendly relations with them. Indian national team striker Jeje Lalpekhula, who has been an integral part of Chennaiyin FC in the Hero Indian Super League (ISL), remembers Dhoni as “being quite good at football.”
A day after ‘Captain Cool’ announced his retirement from international cricket, Lalpekhula took a trip down memory lane to speak about the training sessions where ‘Thala’ Dhoni would join them for a training session. “He just loves to play football. If he is around, whenever we’re playing a small-sided game during training, he’d always try to join us,” said Lalpekhula with a smile.
“Dhoni has played football as a kid and you can gauge how much he still enjoys playing even now,” he said while adding, “He was always so good with the ball at his feet.”
“Dhoni may have been a goalkeeper back in school. But when he’s playing, it has been evident that his skills with his feet have not left him. He’s quite good at football,” Lalpekhula continued.
The 39-year-old has been so helpful that he even offered tips to players, whenever around, to heal with injuries. “In one of the Hero ISL matches I suffered a cramp and had to limp out. After the match, he came down to see me and mentioned some of his teammates in the cricket team who also suffered from cramps and how they dealt with it.”
Midfield general Anirudh Thapa, another Chennaiyin FC player, highlighted Dhoni’s talks where “he always shared his experiences”.
“MSD used to come whenever we had a team lunch. He stayed back to talk to the boys and share about his learnings. He’s a very down to earth guy,” Thapa maintained. “There were others who also asked him to come and sit with them but instead he always preferred to sit with the footballers,” he continued.
“He’d say, ‘Let me sit with the boys and share some experiences’,” said Thapa. MSD told them about the struggles he has had to face in his life and about his journey in cricket. “He’s had such an amazing career over the years. I’d like to wish him a happy retirement,” he exclaimed.
Another latest addition to the Chennaiyin FC squad, who is a huge fan of Dhoni is local boy Edwin Sydney Vanspaul. The 27-year-old described how the city lives and breathes every moment that Dhoni is in Chennai.
“People here are just crazy about him. They may have jobs and other responsibilities with their family but if MSD is in town and Chennai Super Kings is have a training session, they would all head to the stadium, just to watch them practice,” laughed Vanspaul. “And when MSD comes out to bat in the nets, these guys just go bonkers. It’s like when Cristiano Ronaldo goes for a training session in Portugal or Spain.”
Although Dhoni hails from Ranchi, the city of Chennai was very quick to adopt the star cricketer and make him one of their own. They even gave him the title of “Thala” (Head), something that does not come so easily for a sportsperson. “Generally these titles are given to film stars. Ajith Kumar is also called ‘Thala’ here. But for Dhoni, it did not take him long to earn that title,” explained Vanspaul.