It wasn’t long ago that hordes of girls were praying for a husband like him, in his hometown Ranchi on the night of
Shiv Raatri. On Saturday evening, Mahendra Singh Dhoni
broke millions of hearts by getting engaged to long-time girlfriend Sakshi Rawat in Dehradun. As the news of the Indian cricket team captain getting hitched spread, messages of heartbreak started pouring in.
“My home is just a few kilometres away from Dhoni’s, but now he seems further away,” says Sumedha Sinha, a die-hard ‘lover’ from the cricketer’s hometown in Jharkhand. Her family is now ruing for “not sending the rishta on right time.” “Why her (Sakshi)? Oh God,” laments Sumedha. “Couldn’t Mahi have waited for some more time? Sakshi is 21, after all,” tweeted ManishaT.
“Hazaro dil tod Sakshi ke hue Dhoni” read a headline in a Ranchi daily. The mood in Delhi is similar. “Yeh kya ho gaya,” says media consultant Priyanka Sethi, who dealt with the news by “eating chocolate ice-cream”.
Courtesy his sudden engagement, Mahi’s fan following seems to have hit a sudden roadblock. “This year I’ll no longer be sending him birthday wishes on Facebook, not to a married man, of course,” says DU student Shalini Raj. Incidentally, Dhoni will be celebrating his 29th birthday on Wednesday.
While female fans despaired, there were some who cheered. “I hope this ends my indirect competition with MS,” wrote Debasish Bagchi on Facebook, whose girlfriend is a fan of Dhoni. Though most cricketers stayed away from commenting on their skipper’s engagement, a few celebs greeted him. “Congratulations Mahi and Sakshi,” tweeted actress Shilpa Shetty.