Dhoni Never Sat in Business Class, Even as Captain: Sunil Gavaskar

Sunil Gavaskar writes about how MS Dhoni never sat in business class seats on flights, even when he was captain.

Sunil Gavaskar writes about MS Dhoni and says he lives a simple life.

(Photo: ICC)

That MS Dhoni is a simple man who enjoys the simple things in life is a well documented fact. Despite the fame and fortune that has come with being India’s most successful captain, the Jharkhand native continues to live at his home in Ranchi. He rides his bikes to practice and keeps a low profile on social media.

Now, another former captain Sunil Gavaskar has revealed that even at the peak of his career, Dhoni didn’t avail the benefits that came along with his job.

"The Indian team has a lovely system of rewarding its players especially in home matches. As most Indian cricket followers know, during the Indian domestic international season, both teams travel in a special chartered flight from one venue to the next. The flight also carries the technical TV crew who have to rig the cables for the next game. There are limited seats in business class and the captains, coaches and managers of the teams get these. It is here that those Indian players, who have done well in their previous game, get to sit there as a reward rather than the economy class behind.

“Mahendra Singh Dhoni hardly ever sat in business class on the flights even when he was the skipper as he would prefer to sit with the real champs of the TV coverage, the cameramen and the sound engineers,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

The former skipper is currently in a sabbatical from cricket having not played any matches since the ICC World Cup last summer. He joined his IPL team Chennai Super Kings in early March to start preparations for the 2020 season when coronavirus forced a nationwide lockdown and returned to Ranchi.

The tournament was being seen as Dhoni’s comeback to cricket, with an eye on the T20 World Cup later this year. However, now with no update from the BCCI on the league, it remains to be seen what the former skipper decides as his next move.