Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India’s skipper for limited overs format has stepped down on Wednesday. It is likely that Virat Kohli will take over this role for the interim period. BCCI said that Dhoni would still be available for selection as wicket keeper-batsman for the upcoming England series. The national selectors panel will meet at the BCCI’s headquarters in Mumbai on January 6 to finalize the squad against England for the ODI and T20 series. He had stepped down as the captain for Test Cricket in 30 December, 2014.
Also read: MUST WATCH: When Virat Kohli played Dhoni’s helicopter shot in Ranchi
Dhoni has seen an illustrious career as an ODI and T20 captain, leading the Indian Cricket team to win World Cups in both formats. It is unclear why Dhoni took the decision at a time when BCCI is facing massive legal challenge. Supreme Court has just sacked BCCI president Anurag Thakur.
Time to stand up and applaud a magnificent servant, and indeed leader, of Indian cricket. #Dhoni
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 4, 2017
(Source: Twitter)
Dhoni holds the record for most matches as captain of an international side, with 331 games across formats.In 2007, Dhoni took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid and led the team in the first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Srilanka and New Zealand. In 2008, after becoming the Test captain, Team India undeer his captaincy won the series against New Zealand and West Indies. India also won the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in 2008,2010 and 2013.
Also read: This video proves MS Dhoni is the greatest wicket-keeper who ever played
Since his ODI debut in 2014, Dhoni captained the Indian Cricket team in 199 ODI matches. Out of these the team won in 110 matches and lost in 74 matches. As far as T20 matches are concerned, Dhoni took charge for a total of 72 matches, out of which the team won in 41 and lost in 28.
(Source: Youtube)
Confirming the news International Cricket Council (ICC) tweeted:
Dhoni proved his mettle as a captain when he led Indian cricket team to victory in the first T20 World Cup in 2007. In the year 2011, the team clinched the ODI World Cup with Dhoni hitting the winning six against Srilanka at the Wankhede Stadium. Under Dhoni’s captaincy, team India also lifted the last Champions Trophy in the year 2013 in South Wales, England by beating the host country.
Dhoni finishes off the 2012 Cricket World cup in style, winning India its first cup since 1983:
(Source: Youtube)
Being an unconventional player and hailing from a small town of Ranchi, Dhoni has also grabbed the ICC player of the year award in 2008 and 2007 and became the first player to win this tilte twice. He was also named as the captain of the ICC World Test XI and ICC World ODI Team in 2009. In June 2015, Forbes put Dhoni on the 23rd spot in the list of highest paid athletes in the world.
Dhoni’s last press conference as India’s test captain:
(Source: Youtube)
One of Dhoni’s best finishes ever, versus Sri Lanka in Australia:
(Source:Youtube)
Dhoni has always been a goldmine waiting to be discovered. Relive one of young Dhoni’s best cricket innings:
(Source: Youtube)
Here are nine records held by Dhoni:
1. He has the most centuries while batting at number 7 in ODIs
2. He hit most sixes (324) in ODI being the captain
3. As a wicket-keeper, Dhoni holds the record of most stumpings in International cricket, 148 stumpings in 439 International matches
4. He holds the record for highest score by a wicket keeper batsman in an ODI innings (183* against Sri Lanka in 2005 in Jaipur)
5. The record of scoring runs in T20s without hitting a half century also belongs to Dhoni
6. Dhoni has the record of winning most T20 matches as a captain
7. While playing as a wicket keeper, Dhoni holds the record of bowling maximum times
8. Dhoni also holds the record of playing the maximum number of matches in the Indian Premier League as a captain. Played 143 matches, won 83, lost 59
9. He has captained a team for the maximum number of times in the Indian Premier League’s final matches. He led Chennai Super Kings five times in the final out of nine seasons.
(Source: Youtube)
While applauding Dhoni for his amazing captaincy skills, many have gone as far as saying that he is the best captain Indian team could get. Here is a look at few triumphs the Men in Blue achieved under his leadership that makes this praise for Dhoni unquestionable:
1. 2007 ICC T20 World Cup: Under his leadership, with a relatively young team, the Indian squad lifted the maiden ICC T20 World Cup.
2. 2008 Commonwealth Bank Series: India defeated Australia in the limited overs format for the fits time in a really long time under Dhoni’s leadership.
3. 2011 World Cup: Ending the dry spell after 1983, Dhoni led the team to win the prestigious World Cup, giving Indians something to celebrate forever.
4. 2013 Champions Trophy: India had neveer won this trophy till 2013, but Dhoni ensured that happened as well defeating England.
5. 2016 Asia Cup T20: The first time Asia Cup was conducted in a T20 format was last year and Dhoni donning the skipper hat brought the trophy home.
Take a bow @msdhoni .To lead India for 9 years with such wonderful results, India were really blessed to have you as #Captain .
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) January 4, 2017
(Source:Twitter)
