7 Things You Must Know The Early Career Of Mahendra Singh Dhoni

* In 1998, M. S. Dhoni, who had been playing only in school and club level cricket till then, was selected to play for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team. He impressed Deval Sahay, an ex Bihar Cricket Association Vice-President, with his determination and hard-hitting skills, which opened up opportunities for him to play in First Class cricket.

* During the 1998-99 season, he failed to make it to the East Zone U-19 squad or Rest of India squad, but he was selected for the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy in the next season. Unfortunately, he could not perform well and his team finished last in the tournament.

* He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar cricket team during the 1999-2000 season with a score of 68 not out in the second innings. He scored his maiden first-class century during a game against Bengal in the following season, but his team lost the game.

* Coming from a middles class Indian family, money was not a luxury for him. In fact, at the age of 20, he moved to Midnapore, West Bengal, after securing a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) job at Kharagpur railway station via sports quota. He served as a railway employee from 2001 to 2003.

* In 2001, he was selected to play the Duleep Trophy for the East Zone; however, Bihar Cricket Association could not communicate this information to Dhoni in time, as he was located in Midnapore. He learnt this at a time when his team had already reached Agartala, the venue for the match. While one of his friends managed to hire a car for him to reach Kolkata Airport for a flight, the car broke down halfway, resulting in Deep Dasgupta serving as the wicketkeeper.

* During the 2002-03 season, he continued to perform well in the Ranji Trophy and the Deodhar Trophy, which helped him get recognition. As part of the East Zone team, he won the Deodhar Trophy in 2003-2004 season, in which he scored another century.

* He was eventually picked for the India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya during 2003-04. He took 7 catches and had stumpings during a match against Zimbabwe XI. He also helped his team defeat Pakistan A in back-to-back matches, scoring a half century in the first, followed by two centuries. With such performance, he got noticed by the then Indian National Team captain Sourav Ganguly.