Birthday special: How MS Dhoni fell in love with Sakshi

Mahi and Sakshi are inarguably one of the cutest couples of the cricketing world, and the cuteness overload quadrupled after the adorable Ziva was born in 2015.

Their fathers worked in the same company in Ranchi, and they were family friends. They even went to the same school DAV Shyamali in Ranchi. Dhoni’s family however moved and the duo lost track. Like a Bollywood movie of yore, the couple ended up meeting in Kolkata in 2007 where Sakshi was working as intern at Taj Bengal and was introduced to MSD by her manager Yudhajit Dutta. And as dashing Dhoni was completely clean bowled by Sakshi, sparks flew. 

He (Dhoni) took her number from Dutta but when he messaged she thought someone was playing a prank! Sakshi is a hopeless romantic who has seen Twilight 10 times and she found his Edward in Dhoni finally! The duo started dating in 2008 after some neat texting from Captain Cool (we assume). Sakshi even attended his birthday party in 2008 and because Dhoni couldn’t spend much time with her, Captain Cool dropped her back to her relative’s place.

When the duo got married, only a select few knew about the plans and even the media was in the dark. The couple got married on July 4, 2010 and Dhoni’s friends from sports, politics and Bollywood were in attendance.

While Sakshi and Ziva do turn up to support Mahi in matches from time to time, more often than not, the duo usually stays away. Sometimes, Mahi’s victor can take a toll on his family like the time India beat Pakistan in World T20 match in March. Sakshi had written on Twitter that Ziva would wake up. She wrote on Twitter:  “Congratulations Team India and Happy 8 years boo. Ppl outside my house ...honking burning fire crackers ...screaming ...u guys r gonna wake up my daughter .... I would tell her one day as of now she is too young to understand it was #indpak match ! She doesn't kno what n who her dad is !!!"

 

A photo posted by Dhoni Sakshi (@sakshi_dhoni7) on Jul 6, 2016 at 5:35am PDT

Interestingly, Dhoni’s and Team India’s performance have gotten better since he got married. Before marriage Dhoni captained Team India to win the inaugural World T20 tournament in September 2007, and post-marriage he helped India win the 2011 ICC World Cup on home soil as they beat Sri Lanka. In March 2013, Dhoni became India’s most successful Test captain, eclipsing Sourav Ganguly’s record of 21 victories from 49 test matches. Even Dada, acknowledged that Dhoni was the all-time greatest captain and that his record spoke for itself.  

A proud patriot Mahi even admits that he loves his country more and has told Sakshi that she’s the ‘third most important thing in his life’. He once said: “I love my country. I tell my wife she is only the third most important thing after my country and my parents, in that order. The point is that while I am an Indian cricketer I will devote myself to that cause. Cricket is not everything, not by any means, but it is a large part of who I am. Therefore, I want to play in all formats of the game and to play as much as possible because before long it will be over. Then I’ll focus more on the Army!”

And he added: “Sakshi provides the spark I might sometimes need. Jokes aside, she is the person to whom I have a reference. She is both loving and inspirational. Sometimes she travels with me, but cricket is easier without having to ensure her safe passage. One day, we will see the sights together and she says that then, can she please move to number two on the list of my priorities! But for the moment I am here to play cricket. I have been given this honour to play for my country so I want to see it through.”

It has been six years since the couple got married and their lovely daughter Ziva was born on Feb 2015 when Mahi was away in Australia for the 2015 World Cup.All said and done, Mahi and Sakshi, are a beacon of hope for the romantics across the world, showing us that marriage as an institution isn’t dead and love trumps all. Hopefully, the two will stick together for all eternity.