M S Dhoni was born and brought up in the city of Ranchi. He has two siblings. A sister who is married and a brother who lives in Almora. His father's name is Pan Singh and mother's name is Devki Devi.

MS Dhoni, made his debut for Jharkhand in the 1999-2000 season as an eighteen year old. He was noticed by the national team selectors in 2004 after his performances in first class tournaments such as the Deodhar Trophy and the Duleep Trophy.

Dhoni is a fan of Adam Gilchrist, and his childhood idols were cricket teammate Sachin Tendulkar, actor Amitabh Bachchan and singer Lata Mangeshkar.  

Dhoni studied at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali, Ranchi, where he initially excelled in badminton and football and was selected at district and club level in these sports. Dhoni was a goalkeeper for his football team and was sent to play cricket for a local cricket club by his football coach. Though he had not played cricket, Dhoni impressed with his wicket-keeping skills and became the regular wicketkeeper at the Commando cricket club (1995 - 1998). 
Based on his performance at club cricket, he was picked for the 1997/98 season Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship and he performed well.Dhoni focused on cricket after his 10^th standard.

Dhoni was voted as MTV Youth Icon 2006 and joins cricketers Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar in winning the award. 

As truly described by Brett Lee:YES, I’m a die heart fan of Dhoni, his coolness, his attitude, his body language on field, says it all… He has all that it needs to be a leader, He a leader, a true leader…