Aakash Chopra was one of the openers who kicked off the proceedings with Virender Sehwag between 2003 to 2004. Aakash caught the selectors' attention with consistent performances and he made his debut for India against New Zealand in 2003. He played 10 Test matches before getting dropped. While Aakash never played international cricket with MS Dhoni, they were teammates while playing for India A.
Aakash has revealed an unheard tale about Dhoni and revealed that he sacrificed non-veg food for a month as Aakash was a vegetarian.
"His phone used to ring a lot, but he never answered it. When I asked him what time he goes to sleep, because we had to figure the time, he said, 'Whenever you are comfortable, you can switch off the lights.' Moreover, he was non-vegetarian and I was vegetarian, so it was not a great partnership. So when I asked him what he wanted to eat, he said, 'Whatever you feel like eating.' He never used to call for room service. He was just too shy. For one whole month he ate vegetarian food," Aakash said on Raj Shamani Youtube channel.
Dhoni made his India debut in an ODI against Bangladesh in December 2004. He made his Test debut a year later. Aakash played his last game for India in October 2004. He finished his career with 10 Test caps. He had a long domestic career.
MS Dhoni's career
MS Dhoni had a long career for Team India and he played 90 Tests and 350 ODIs. Dhoni also donned 98 T20I caps. He took over as India's captain in 2007 and led the team till 2016. Dhoni was once India's most successful Test captain. He captained India for the final time in an ODI against Afghanistan in 2018. Dhoni retired from international cricket in 2020.