In a new podcast on his app, Mahendra Singh Dhoni has opened up about his early life while growing up in Ranchi. Dhoni has been in the news recently for his performances for Chennai Super Kings in the Indian Premier League. On Saturday, Dhoni’s parents Pan Singh and Devaki Devi were in attendance at the MA Chidambaram Stadium as CSK took on Delhi Capitals.
While Dhoni stayed unbeaten in the game against Delhi, scoring 30 off 26 balls, Chennai lost by 25 runs. Dhoni addressed talk about his retirement in the podcast, but also reflected on his early life.
In an interview with Raj Shamani, Dhoni has gone down memory lane to talk about his childhood in Ranchi. He explained how he was afraid of his father as a kid and why he never felt insecure as a child.
He revealed that as a kid, his days would begin as early as 5.30 am and would rarely deviate from pattern.
“When we were kids, there was no insecurity in life. We had the same routine day after day and there was no scope for insecurity. I don’t think we were insecure about anything. Everything was the same, there was no showoff, no mobile phones around!” Dhoni said.
Dhoni also revealed in the interview that he “loved challenges but doesn’t crave them”. He said: “If we win the match without any drama and I don’t get to bat, I’m happy. I just want India to win. I don’t want the match to get over in the last over. Who made the runs, who took wickets… I’m not bothered.”
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“We had a very regimented childhood. The school was in the colony itself which meant that there was no badmasshi in younger days. My teachers had also taught my elder brother, and there was an 10-year age gap between us. So they literally knew the full family. The only competitive thing in early days was games we played in my colony, where if you lost one day, you had to win the next day!
“Papa se darr bohot lagta tha (I used to be really scared of my father),” Dhoni said before explaining why: “He was very strict. He was regimented; always supposed to be on time. But that’s also why I am regimented. It’s not like he used to beat us or something. But that fear was there. My friends would climb walls in the colony, but I never dared. If my father sees, then we are gone! We never knew what the consequences would be, but we were afraid nevertheless.”
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