She came, he saw, she conquered. And the most ironic part: Sakshi Singh Rawat didn't even have to make an effort to capture the interest of India's most eligible bachelor.

The two first met at the Taj Bengal in Kolkata in November-December, 2007. Yudhajit Dutta, Mahendra Singh Dhoni's manager and one of his closest friends, and Sakshi, who was interning at the hotel, were pals. India were playing Pakistan at the Eden Gardens and staying at the Taj, and Dutta dropped in to meet Dhoni. He also called Sakshi up and asked her to stop by. It was, coincidentally, Sakshi's last day at the Taj Bengal, so some would say their meeting was fated.

Sakshi dropped in, was introduced to Dhoni and they went their separate ways. Unknown to Sakshi, Dhoni asked Dutta for her phone number and texted her.

In fact, say sources, Sakshi did not believe it was Dhoni texting her when he first did. It took a few months of serious wooing on Dhoni's part before they started dating in March 2008. She attended Dhoni's birthday bash in 2008 in Mumbai, but they did not spend time alone till Dhoni took an hour off from his friends to drop her back to a relative's place.