He may be the country’s most successful cricket captain, the winner of a World Cup in every format and an inspiration to many budding sportsmen... but that’s not all Mahendra Singh Dhoni wants to be known for.
Conferred with the honorary rank of a lieutenant colonel in the territorial army in 2011, MS Dhoni spent the last week actively earning his army stripes at the Air Force Station in Agra.
On Saturday, the Indian skipper took time out to speak to young students at the St. Clare’s Senior Secondary School.
But before that, he spent a majority of last week among his comrades in the Indian army, perfecting a new skill!
Utilising the same ease and skill with which he dons the cricket gloves, the Indian skipper also became a qualified paratrooper in the Territorial Army’s (TA) 106 Parachute Regiment.
This one though, isn’t an honorary rank.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, Dhoni underwent two weeks of training to earn his new stripes. Training that included classroom lectures, along with toughening exercises. It was only after a series of five successful jumps later that he became a qualified paratrooper.
And also, in the middle of all those training and classroom sessions, the skipper still found time to be reminded of his day-job... as he obliged his loving fans in the Indian army.