Meet the bride and groom

The 21-year-old, who married the country’s most eligible bachelor, is an incurable romantic with little interest in cricket 

On the field, he is known for his grip on the game. On Sunday morning, as the nation woke up to the news of the Mahendra Singh Dhoni's engagement and wedding, the world's most exciting cricketer stumped us with his grip on matters off the field too.

In a fast and furious spell, MSD got engaged to Kolkata girl Sakshi Rawat in a well-guarded resort in the foothills of the Himalayas. Within hours he married her in a ceremony which was out of bounds for the media, at a luxurious resort in Dehradun.

Contrary to what was earlier reported in the media, 21-year-old Sakshi Singh Rawat is not the Indian captain's childhood sweetheart, even though their families had known each other for a long time. A source close to the cricket star revealed, "Sakshi was a trainee with Taj Bengal, Kolkata, in 2008, when the two met." Prodded by their families who, according to a friend went to the extent of matching their kundlis, Dhoni and Sakshi, kept in touch. "However, nothing much happened other than a few friendly SMSes and conversations on the phone," says the source, adding, "After he went to Australia, he began texting her again. Something just clicked at that time." 

Like most 21-year-olds, Sakshi is an incurable romantic, say her close friends. She has watched Robert Pattinson's Twilight at least 10 times, and lists Hollywood rom coms and daily soaps among her favourites. Incidentally, her cocker spaniel is named Joey.

Sakshi, whose family lives in Alipore, one of Kolkata’s most upscale neighbourhoods, finished her internship with the Taj a year ago, and has been working for an NGO since then.

Interestingly, as sources also revealed, Sakshi is no cricket fanatic, and has shown no interest in attending any of Dhoni’s matches so far. Since he could not get her to the matches, Dhoni even flew down to be with her in Aurangabad — where she was studying hotel management — during the 2009 IPL grind.

There was a twist in this sweet tale, when Dhoni allegedly developed cold feet. A friend of Dhoni- who incidentally was not invited to the wedding - claimed, the two sets of parents intervened to help the star cricketer make up his mind about marriage. “Dhoni did not want to marry before the World Cup, but his parents’ failing health seemed to have played a catalyst,” adds the friend.

“Finally, at the beginning of 2010, Dhoni decided to take the plunge,” adds another source. And while Sakshi informed her close friends and family about the big decision, no one was really sure about the date, which was finalised only 25 days ago.

You are NOT invited

The ceremony, according to sources was attended by Dhoni’s close friends and a select few from the Indian team RP Singh, Piyush Chawla, Praveen Kumar, and Suresh Raina. One big name missing was that of Dhoni’s one time close friend Yuvraj Singh. Singh, however wished Dhoni on twitter.

Though Bollywood was conspicuous in its absence, other than John Abraham, the Bhojpuri film fraternity was represented at the wedding. In 2008, Dhoni had shot for a music video with Rani Tiwari, Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari's wife, who was present at Vishranti resort, Dehrudun for the nuptials.