'I never thought I will play for India' - MS Dhoni on Raj Shamani podcast

In a candid reflection on Raj Shamani's podcast on his early cricketing days, former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni shared how his life has been since he started playing cricket in his early days. 

Born on July 7, 1981, in Ranchi, Bihar (now part of Jharkhand), Dhoni's journey to international cricket was anything but conventional. Initially more inclined towards football, his transition to cricket was serendipitous. While serving as a goalkeeper for his school football team, Dhoni's potential as a wicketkeeper was identified by his coach, leading him to represent the Commando Cricket Club from 1995 to 1998.

MS Dhoni, in a conversation, said that coming from Ranchi and playing for Bihar he never thought of playing for India. He also added that many cricketers used to come up and play the game for the country. 

"I never thought I'll play for the country. Because coming from Ranchi, I used to play for Bihar.  And then the new state was formed. It became Jharkhand.  We didn't have a history of  too many cricketers coming up and  playing for the country. So at a very early stage,  especially when we talk about school, we used to think that I'll play for India."

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On being asked about his childhood days, Dhoni shared that he used to play cricket with tennis ball and used to bowl. MSD also talked about him being thin and small and how he always used to play with people older than his group, and competition always being there. 

It was too far fetched.  But Doing good and contributing  Was important. When we used to play tennis, I used to bowl also. Earlier, I was very small. Thin and thin.  And we used to always  Play with people who were older than us. 3-4 years older than us. So there was always competition.  There were a lot of people in our age group.