Hyderabad: MS Dhoni, one of the stalwarts of Indian cricket and the skipper who was known by the nickname of captain cool started his journey from the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand and made it big into international cricket with his power-hitting and top-notch finishes. His tale is of perseverance, grit, hunger to succeed and shape a bright future at the end.
His first step towards shaping a bright career in the sport started from his hometown by creating whispers in the cricketing circles of Ranchi as he was the teenage boy who used to smash best bowlers of the distinct for maximums at will in spite of no measurable upper-body strength. But, the system failed to spot him for a place in the national squad as players from tier-A cities made it to the national side before him. The young lad with long hair then started to work as a ticket collector for Railways and joined their Ranji Team.
However the future was becoming bright for Dhoni as the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) formed a country-wide Training Research Development Wing to search for talent from financially backwards states. The scouts from this wing spotted Dhoni and the wicketkeeper-batter was sent on India A tour to Kenya soon. The right-handed batter showcased his power-hitting skills on that tour paving way for a place in the national side in November 2004.
In his first couple of years only, showed his potential with sublime knocks against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Dhoni amassed 148 runs against Pakistan and went a step further next year when he carved a destruction with a knock of unbeaten 183 runs. There was no looking back after that for the swash-buckling finisher as he went on to have a fine white-ball career often taking the team over the line with his finishes.
Dhoni has scored 4876 runs in Test with an average of 38.09 and 10773 ODI runs with an average of 50.58. He has also amassed 1617 T20I runs in his career at a strike rate of 126.13. The world will always remember Dhoni for his iconic six in the 2011 ODI World Cup to seal the deal against Sri Lanka in the final. He was out of form throughout the whole tournament but played a knock of unbeaten 91 in the final of the marquee event to step up at crucial juncture and help the team lift the silverware.
Captaincy
Dhoni was recommended as the next skipper by senior players in the Indian team like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar and the move paid off for the national side in the long-term.
Under his leadership, India won three ICC trophies. They won the inaugural edition of the T20 World Cup 2007, rose to the top spot in the Test rankings in 2009, won the 2011 ODI World Cup and emerged triumphant in the 2013 Champions Trophy.
The first assignment for captain cool was the 2007 T20 World Cup where he led a bunch of young lads to the glory run. The World Cup win of the inexperienced side stunned everyone and it also formed a foundation for a cricket revolution in the Indian cricket. Also, Dhoni took some strange decisions like bowling Joginder Sharma in the last over of the final and they paid off. One other indicator of his shrewd captaincy was he made the players practice bowl-out and it worked against Pakistan when the match ended in a tie.
The next major captaincy achievement was India’s victory in the ODI World Cup 2011. In the tournament. Sachin Tendulkar was India’s highest run-scorer amassing 482 runs with an average of 53.55. Also, Zaheer Khan was the joint highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 21 wickets and played a key role in India’s victory.
The next incredible campaign in an ICC event came in 2013 when the team lifted the ICC Champions Trophy after going through a transition phase. Some tough selection calls were taken by the captain cool and he formed a team of champions. The win made him first captain in history to win all three ICC trophies - ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy and he inked his name in the history books.
Dhoni has a win percentage of 55 in the ODIs winning 110 fixtures out of 200 while the team won 41 matches out of 74 T20Is they played.
Retirement
In the white-ball cricket, where he used to tear apart the opposition bowling attacks, Dhoni played the semi-final of the ODI World Cup 2019 and then didn’t feature in any ODIs after the heart-breaking loss in the match till announcing his official retirement. He officially announced his retirement from the white-ball cricket on August 15, 2020.
The retirement from the red-ball cricket was taken on December 30, 2014 as Dhoni bid farewell to his red-ball after the Boxing Day Test against Australia.
