In India, cricketers hold godly status in terms of popularity and are key targets of advertising agencies.
It was Sachin Tendulkar who started the trend of advertisement, and now the likes of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni make a substantial amount of money after penning down lucrative contracts.
Moreover, Dhoni, owing to the current pandemic situation plaguing the country, has decided not to endorse any product, as confirmed by his manager Mihir Diwakar.
“Patriotism is in his blood, be it serving for the country (in defence) or (farming) the land, he’s very passionate about it. He has about 40-50 acres of farmland and he is busy growing organic crops like papaya, banana there,” Diwakar told Times Now.
Recently, the Indian talisman was seen riding a tractor and indulging in farming in his huge mansion outside Ranchi.
Also, fans saw Dhoni in an AMFI awareness advertisement campaign, where he takes a subtle dig at people questioning his retirement.
“He has stopped brand endorsements and has said that till life comes to normal, he won’t do any commercial activity,” the manager added. Also, Diwakar runs the MS Dhoni Cricket Academy under the name of Aarka Sports.
In the past, Dhoni has endorsed top brands such as Reebok, Pepsico, Bharat Petroleum, Reliance, TVS, Titan Sonata, and the controversial Real Estate group, Amrapali.
It has been exactly one year since Dhoni played international cricket, rather competitive cricket of any kind.
With Dhoni’s run-out in the semi-finals of 2019 ODI World Cup in England, down went the expectations and hopes of a billion people.
Since then, he has taken a sabbatical from international cricket and was slated to make a comeback in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL).
Further, Dhoni was also seen smacking a few big hits, looking at his best during the training session of CSK, before the start of the season. However, the tournament was suspended indefinitely amidst COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in India.
