Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will tie the knot with childhood friend Sakshi Singh Rawat in a quiet ceremony at a farmhouse about 40km from here on Sunday night.
The 28-year-old wicket-keeper batsman got engaged to Sakshi, a 23-year-old hotel management student, at a private ceremony last night.
The wedding is also expected to be a private affair with only very close family members and friends, including Dhoni’s teammates Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, attending. BCCI bigwigs including President Shashank Manohar are also expected to attend the wedding.
Although family sources had indicated after the engagement that the wedding will take place in October, India’s tight schedule in the next few months might have prompted the change.
Despite being a private ceremony, the wedding will have its share of glamour as Dhoni’s Bollywood friend John Abraham is reportedly here to attend the wedding.
The couple is expected to host a reception in Mumbai on July 7, which also happens to be Dhoni’s 29th birthday.
Dhoni and Sakshi, who hail from Aurangabad, had been school friends at DAV, Shamily in Ranchi. “Their fathers worked together in MECON, and the Rawats moved to Dehradun after retirement,” a family friend said.
The Indian captain is currently enjoying a rare break from international cricket and will be next seen in action during a three-Test series against Sri Lanka scheduled to begin from July 18 at Galle.
Dhoni, who made his international debut against Bangladesh in December 2004, has so far played 43 Tests, 166 ODIs and 25 T20s. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Cup Twenty20, CB Series of 2007-08, and the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2008 beating Australia 2-0.
He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in this year’s Indian Premier League. He is now captain of India in all three forms of the game, leading the team to its first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
