NEW DELHI: Former Indian cricket team captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, bid adieu to international cricket on 15 August. He made the declaration through his Instagram post where he wrote, “Thanks. Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. From 19.29 hrs consider me as Retired.”
Popularly known as captain cool and also one of the most successful cricket captains of India, he has led the team in many astonishing victories. Under his regime, India won three ICC trophies including the 2011 cricket world cup.
The unexpected announcement left many people shocked and netizens poured in their tributes for Dhoni and saluted the legendary cricketer. In just a few hours, social media was abuzz with his name and #DhoniRetires was trending on top.
The style of retirement was also very unique from the cricketer. Dhoni posted a video which highlighted some of the best moment he has experienced in his lifetime during the course of the game. It also featured other Indian cricketers like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul David and Virat Kohli.
Dhoni was not only the world’s highest-paid cricketer but a popular choice in the advertising world as well. Over the years, he has worked with an array of brands. In his astonishing career, he worked with multiple brands like Cars24, Mastercard, Netmeds, Dreams11, redBus, Snickers, Indigo Paints and many more. With Pepsi, MS Dhoni had the longest association of 11 years; it started in 2005 and campaigns like ‘Oh yes Abhi’ and ‘Change the game’ garnered a lot of attention.
Recently, he was featured in CARS24 360 degree marketing campaign, “Car bechni ho, toh CARS24” where Dhoni played dual characters of a seller and buyer.
ITC Ltd also released a film for Sunfeast Yipee when the brand expanded into the new category of pasta products. The TVC showcases him tasting six delicious pasta variants, offering the convenience of instant preparation.
The former captain had done many back to back TVC campaigns with Dream 11 and Snickers, with a new avatar each time.
According to the Duff & Phelps Celebrity Brand Valuation study 2019, while Virat Kohli retained his position as the biggest celebrity brand in India for the third successive year, Dhoni was ranked at number nine.
As per Forbes, in 2016, Dhoni’s net worth was around $31 million and brand endorsements comprised a large part of this value.
According to the Adex survey of TAM Media Research, during the January to June period of 2010, while Dhoni, at his peak, endorsed brands for 24 companies on TV, Shah Rukh Khan and Tendulkar were seen promoting the products of 16 and 15 companies, respectively.
During the period, ‘captain cool’ appeared for a host of brands, including Reebok, Aircel, Godrej, and TVS. In July 2010, he had signed a Rs 210 crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes which till date is considered as one of the highest-paid deals.
Brands from across verticals joined the bandwagon and poured good wishes for the cricketer, and launched creatives on social media. Amul rolled out a heartwarming video, a montage of his achievement in his 16 years long international career.
Brands like Parle-G, Zomato, KFC, Google, Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar, IndiGo and many other brands paid tribute to the legendary cricketer.
