Barely a day after he sported a new hairdo, youngsters in Ranchi, the Indian cricket captain’s hometown, have started becoming Mahendra Singh Dhoni lookalikes, says a report in Hindustan Times, adding that salons and men’s beauty parlour on Monday received enquiries, and clients even demanded the new Dhoni hairstyle.
HT spoke to a couple of beauty salons and found that till afternoon on Monday at least 20 youngsters and cricket-crazy enthusiasts visited them to sacrifice their hair on either side of their head to emulate the Dhoni hairstyle, which is popularly known as the Mohawk cut, made popular by English footballer David Beckham.
This is not the first time that Dhoni has popularised a new hairstyle. His long locks in the initial days of his cricketing career were quite a hit among his young fans.
According to a report in Deccan Chronicle, from long locks to cropped hair, the different styles that Dhoni had sported have become a style statement with youngsters, not only in his hometown Ranchi but all over the country.
“A smashing whirlwind century against arch-rival Pakistan in an ODI in Visakhapatnam a few years ago catapulted Dhoni into centrestage and with it his long locks also became the talking point among youngsters. Every time Dhoni came to Ranchi, he had his hair cut at the Kaya Salon, attracting hundreds of fans and the police had a tough time controlling the crowd. In fact, in November 2006, the then Ranchi Superintendent of Police, Akhilesh Kumar Jha, had to request Dhoni to inform the police before he visited the salon,” says the report, adding that when Pervez Musharraf was the president of Pakistan he had commented on Dhoni's hairstyle, during a post-match speech.
"I saw a placard asking you to have a haircut. But (if) you want my opinion, you look good this way and don't need a haircut," Musharraf had said.
Chanchal Bhattacharya, one of Dhoni's coaches during his formative years, said: "The latest mohawk is his fourth hairstyle. When I saw him first in school, he had a close-cropped hair as any other school boy. He has become an icon now, and fans love all his styles."