Who says cricket and bikes are Mahendra Singh Dhoni's only love?
The Indian captain is a dog-lover. One of the few things that caught the Chennai Super Kings skipper's eyes were the two dozen security dogs at the Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium in Pune on Tuesday night.
- Soumitra Bose
- Updated: May 01, 2013 01:11 PM IST
Top sportspersons have many ways to relax. Some listen to music, some sleep it off in the dressing room and some even drink tea or polish off ice cream. Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni also has his ways. Known to be in perfect control of his emotions even before big encounters, Dhoni's fascination for pet dogs came to the fore in Pune on Tuesday night. What better way than to share your stress with "man's best friend!"
Dhoni was impressed by the canine turnout. He tweeted on Wednesday: "They hve 24 dogs at the stadium,doberman,german and belgium shepherd,labs.its nice to c them lined up together". Of the two dozen security dogs on show, Dhoni fell in love with one of them. It was a Golden Retriever.
Dhoni rarely tweets about Indian Premier League matches. He is rarely emotional about results or performances. "I switch off once the matches are over," he said in a recent interview, adding, "this helps me in taking the stress off me and remain myself." Dhoni, of course, had commented on Chris Gayle's world record 175 not out, saying: "he took the right decision to become a wicket-keeper (and not bowl at the burly Jamaican."
The Indian captain never fails to make his comments on the social media on things he and his wife Sakshi love. Pet dogs are one of them.
This morning, Dhoni (@msdhoni) tweeted: "Thts prince,golden retriever at the pune stadium" He even attached a photograph! And then to express his joy Dhoni tweeted: "Wd hve taken him to ranchi if I was going home from here.1 of the best golden retriever that I hve seen"
Sakshi is fond of dogs too. Recently, she 'adopted' two female and one male street dog. The first lady of Indian cricket named the male dog "Sultan" and sought through Twitter "two names for the female dogs to compliment the name sultan."
Back home in Ranchi, Dhoni has two pet dogs, a Labrador named Zarah and an Alsation called Sam. Dhoni's love for pets and motorbikes are well known. When he was in the school, Dhoni had domesticated a parrot. "After the parrot died, he had wept and wept", recalled his mother Devki.