MS Dhoni's rise in Indian cricket: From brink of being dropped to superstardom

MS Dhoni is widely considered one of the greatest captains the cricketing world has ever seen. He is the most decorated Indian captain in history and is the only Indian skipper to win three different ICC trophies.

Dhoni led the Indian cricket team for nine years between 2007 to 2016 in three different formats. He was handed over the captaincy of the Indian T20 side right before the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007.

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After bringing home the trophy from South Africa, Dhoni was given the charge of the ODI team as well starting in the VB series in Australia.

He finally got the Indian captaincy in the longest format in 2008 when Anil Kumble decided to hand his boots.

The Ranchi-born wicketkeeper-batsman went on to lead India to their second ODI World Cup win in 2011, their second Champions Trophy title in 2013 and taking India to the top of the ICC test rankings for the first time in their history.

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But India could have missed out on getting arguably their greatest captain ever had he not hit a 148 against Pakistan in his fourth ODI innings and then a 183 against Sri Lanka in 2005, which cemented his place in the Indian squad after a nightmare start to his career. 

How did MS Dhoni fare in the initial stage of his career?

Dhoni made his India debut in 2004 against Bangladesh in a bilateral ODI series. He managed to score a total of 19 runs in the three-match ODI series, including a duck on his international debut.

Many had written off the young wicket-keeper after miserably failing in his debut series but Dhoni came back strongly in the next series.

Despite his poor start, then-Indian captain Sourav Ganguly kept faith in the youngster and included him in the Indian squad for a five-match ODI series against Pakistan in India.

Dhoni grabbed the opportunity with both hands and scored his international century in the second match of the series. A fiery innings of 148 runs against rivals Pakistan silenced his critics for the timing.

15 fours, 10 sixes and 183* off 145! ⚡️💪💪⚡️#OnThisDay in 2005, @msdhoni took Sri Lanka by storm and notched up his highest ODI score. #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/3lqDQQfPSV

— BCCI (@BCCI) October 31, 2020

The innings that actually cemented his place in the Indian team was the 183 in ODI innings against Sri Lanka on October 2005. He later went on to dominate Indian cricket for one and a half decades.

What is MS Dhoni's record as Indian captain?

MS Dhoni led India in T20Is and ODI between 2007 to 2016 and in Test matches between 2008 to 2014

Tests

ODIs

T20Is

Overall

How many ICC trophies has MS Dhoni won as Indian captain?

MS Dhoni led India to three ICC titles and finished runners-up in one. Under his leadership, India won the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World and the 2013 Champions Trophy. The Men in Blue reached the final of the 2014 T20 World Cup but lost to Sri Lanka in the final.

When did MS Dhoni retire from international cricket?

MS Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket after the series against Australia in Australia. Once he retired, the captaincy was handed over to Virat Kohli.

In 2017, just before an ODI series against England, Dhoni announced his decision to leave the white-ball captaincy and hand it over to Virat Kohli.

He finally brought the curtains down on his illustrious career in 2020.

MORE: When did Dhoni play his last international match?

MS Dhoni career: How many runs did he score in international cricket?

MS Dhoni appeared in 438 matches in international cricket and is only the second wicketkeeper-batsman to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs.

Tests

ODIs

T20Is