MS Dhoni is all smiles as he promotes fitness and active lifestyle brand SEVEN during the debut of its first store at a Ranchi mall on Thursday and (above) a crowd of 30,000 fans eagerly wait to catch a glimpse of the former India cricket skipper.

"This is the first exclusive store of SEVEN in the country and also my first public appearance of such a grand scale in Ranchi in the past 10 years," said Dhoni.

For Dhoni, 'seven' is much more than just a number. Born on July 7 - the seventh day of the seventh month of a year - he has always had an affinity for the digit. He is forever known to wear the number on his tee during cricket matches.

Launched in February last year by RS Seven Lifestyle (P) Ltd, a part of Rhiti Group, SEVEN merchandise are currently available at 309 multi-brand outlets across India.

Besides being the brand's global ambassador, Dhoni is also the co-owner of SEVEN along with Arun Pandey, CMD and chairman of Rhiti Group.

"Ranchi is Dhoni's hometown so we wanted to launch the first exclusive store of SEVEN here. We plan to open 275 more stores in the country by 2020," said Pandey, who was also present on the occasion.

Text by Achintya Ganguly; pictures by Prashant Mitra