The world of cricket is like a genie lamp which gave India the true gems of the country. Names like Kapil Dev, Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, etc. takes us directly on the cricket ground and just boost us to cheer for team India. All of them have been a great contributor in the team and has left a victorious print of their skills in the history of Indian cricket.
Virat Kohli, the current captain of India’s national cricket team, tweeted on Thursday a memory picture from the 2016 T20 World Cup match against Australia and called the match as unforgettable because MS Dhoni made him run like in a fitness test. This tweet has led to speculations that MS Dhoni might retire soon, probably today! This is for sure heartbreaking news for all Mahi fans.
About Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is also known as MS Dhoni, is an Indian International cricketer who was a captain of the Indian cricket team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2016 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. He was born on 7th July 1981 in Ranchi, India. He is known by different names such as Mahi, Thala, and Caption Cool. He got the name caption cool due to his cool and calm behavior as caption. He is a right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper. He is one of the highest scorers in One Day Internationals (ODIs) with more than 10.000 runs scored and also is considered as an effective and the best “finisher” in limited over formats. He is the only caption under whose captaincy; India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cups, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. One of the best wicket-keepers in modern limited-overs international cricket, Mahi has won many hearts.
Initial Days
Initially, he excelled in badminton and football and was also selected at district and club level in these sports. He was a goalkeeper for the football team and was sent to play cricket by his football coach, and later impressed everyone with his wicket-keeping skills and thus destiny played its card and gave the world MS Dhoni! He became a regular wicket-keeper at the Commando cricket club (1995-1998). He was selected to play 1997-98 season Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship. Dhoni also worked as a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) at Kharagpur railway station from 2001 to 2003, under South Eastern Railway in Midnapore.
Ranji Trophy Debut
He made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999-2000 season, as an eighteen-year-old. He also made a half-century in his debut match scoring 68 in the second innings against Assam Cricket team. He scored a century against Assam in the first match of Ranji ODI tournament.
He was also recognized for his efforts in the 2003-04 season in the One day format and was picked for India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya. Against Zimbabwe, he had best keeping effort with 7 catches and 4 stumpings in the match.
ODI career
Dhoni did not make a great start to his ODI career as he got out for a duck on debut. In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, he was further selected for Pakistan ODI series. In the second match of the series, Dhoni in his fifth one-day international scored 148 off only 123 deliveries. He later got batting opportunities as well in the first two games of the Sri Lankan bilateral ODI series in 2005 and was promoted to No. 3 in the third ODI. India got the target of 299 and Tendulkar got out early, but it was Mahi who brought the game back to India’s side by getting unbeaten 183 off 145 balls and thus winning the game. Various records were set including a highest individual score in ODI cricket in the second innings which was broken seven years later by Shane Watson. The highest run rate in the series was 346 aggregate by Dhoni and was awarded the Man of the series. In 2005, he was rewarded a B-grade contract by the BCCI.
World Cup 2007
In World Cup 2007, India’s records were improved with Dhoni having an average in excess of 100 in both these series. Unexpectedly, India lost matches with Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Dhoni was out for a duck in both these matches and scored only 29 runs in the tournament.
Other Achievements
Later, Dhoni scored 91 plus runs against Bangladesh and was declared Man of the Match for his performance. Dhoni was named vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa in Ireland and the subsequent India-England seven-match ODI series. He was awarded ‘A’ grade contract in June 2007 and was also elected as the captain of the Indian squad for the World Twenty20 in 2007. He equaled his idol Adam Gilchrist’s international record for the most dismissals in an innings in ODI by catching five English players and stumping one. For his amazing performances in 2008, he was named as a wicketkeeper of the World ODI XI by the ICC. He was also named as captain and wicketkeeper of the World ODI XI by the Cricinfo.
Dhoni topped the ICC ODI batsman rankings for several months in 2009 and he had an excellent year in ODIs in 2009 scoring 1198 runs in just 24 innings at an average of 70.43. Due to his performances in 2009, he was named as captain and wicketkeeper of the World ODI Xi by the ICC. He was also named as wicketkeeper in the World ODI XI by the ICC for 2010.
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011
Then came ICC Cricket World Cup 2011, possibly one of the best things in Indian cricket history, when India lifted the world cup trophy after 198, though Dhoni did not have a great show with the batting average of 30.0 in 7 innings but with efforts of the team, they emerged as world champions. He scored 91 not out, finishing the game with a historical six and claiming the Man of the Match award. He was named as captain and wicketkeeper of the World ODI XI by the ICC.
In 2012, Pakistan toured India for bilateral series and in the three-match ODI series, Dhoni top-scored for India in all three innings but India lost series 1-2. He was named as captain and wicketkeeper of the World ODI XI by ICC.
He is the only captain to claim all ICC trophies and he did so by winning 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. He was out of a duck and ending up the tournament with 27 runs but the team was successful beating the opponent by 5 runs. He was later named as captain and wicketkeeper of the ‘Team of the Tournament’ by the ICC.
He became 2nd India batsman after Tendulkar to get 1,000 or more ODI-runs against Australia. India toured South Africa and New Zealand in the 2013-14 season and ended up losing both the series. Against South Africa, Dhoni managed 84 runs at an average of 48.0, including half-century. Whereas against New Zealand, he managed 272 runs which included 3 consecutive 50-plus runs and the third match led to a tie and thus avoiding the series. India won ODI series in England in 2014 by 3-1 and series against West Indies in India by 2-1 margin. For the performance in 2014, he was named as captain and wicketkeeper of the World ODI by the ICC.
Dhoni managed to get 70 runs from three innings in 2015 Carlton Mid Triangular Series in Australia. He became the first Indian captain to win all group stages matches in such a tournament.
Stepped off as Captain
In January 2017, he stepped down as captain of India in limited over formats. He scored 134 off 122 balls, that included a 256-run partnership for the fourth wicket along with Yuvraj Singh. Dhoni went past 10,000 ODI runs in the second ODI against England during his team’s 2018 tour and became fourth Indian and twelfth overall to do so. He had a relatively mediocre series, having scored only 79 runs in 2 innings. And it was followed by 2 poor outings from him in the ODI format and later dropped from the T20I squad for the series which followed the Australia tour. But he was included in the squad named for the ODI series there. Dhoni returned back in power and scored half-centuries in all three games resulting in 2-1 series victory. He finished with 193 runs and was named player of the series.
Though, not only in ODIs but in other formats as well he scored well, bringing his entire career in words is something not possible due to his talent. Life is all about win and loss, so it does not matter he performed well or not. He surely won hearts. He is also the captain of Chennai Super Kings and have brought victory thrice from 2008.
Dhoni went into the 2019 World Cup after conceding the captaincy to Virat Kohli in late 2016 but continued to form the backbone of the batting line. Though he did not remain up to the expectations in 2019 world cup but surely the team together won the hearts. One can say, it is likely that 2019 World Cup might be the last one Dhoni played but he will forever be our best captain and wicket-keeper!
Three cheers for him- MAHI! MAHI! MAHI!
