I felt very disappointing when I saw this picture of India’s former captain MS Dhoni. He seems to be getting old now. My first memory about MSD was watching a sport news about his 148 against Pakistan. A number 3 batsman with a long hair. He showed every sign of being a best batsman in the future. In 2005 Sri Lanka toured India for 7 ODIs.
In the 3rd ODI of that series he scored 183 runs when chasing a score of 299. It was the Best innings of MS Dhoni's career. In 2006 He became the top batsman in ICC ODI rankings. During his career he maintained an ODI batting average more than 50.
MS Dhoni got the captaincy in 2007. Since then Indian Cricket's golden period was started. India won ICC World T20 in 2007, ICC Cricket World cup in 2011 & ICC Champions trophy in 2013.Also, India became the number 1 test team in ICC Test rankings under the Dhoni's captaincy.
He is captaining Chennai Super Kings in IPL from 2008. He won three IPL trophies as a captain
He left his Test captaincy in 2014 & ODI captaincy in 2016.
I don't think that I need to include too much on his records. But as per my perspective he is a very intelligent cricketer & a great finisher.
Dhoni played a key role in every game that India beat Sri Lanka in last 15 years. As mentioned above he started to break our hearts when he scored his 183. In that series India managed to beat Sri Lanka by 6 matches to 1. Dhoni always a hard player to get out. In the 2009, the most thrilling encounter between India & Sri Lanka happened in Rajkot. In that game India scored 414 runs, Sri Lanka scored 411. One stage Sri Lanka on their way to earn a historical win when they were on 316/1. But Dhoni managed his bowlers & fielders very well to restrict SL. Dhoni played an unforgettable 91 runs in ICC Cricket World cup final in 2011 to beat us. In that night Dhoni was my enemy. His performance made me sorrow for one or two weeks.
Once in Adelaide, he batted brilliantly to tie the game from a losing position. Once he single handily won his team in Caribbean Tri Nation finals in 2013. Even after he stepped down from the captaincy, in 2017, at Pallekale, he recorded a miracle victory after that Akila Dananjaya's famous spell. Dhoni and Bhuvaneshvar Kumar build a 100+ runs partnership after their Middle order collapsed.
India could have been bowled to Lowest ever ODI total in Dharamshala, when their first 7 wickets lost for just 29 runs against Sri Lanka. However, Dhoni scored 65 & save India from that Shameful record, even though they lost the game.
Sad to say that as a Sri Lankan, I have mostly heart-breaking memories about Dhoni. But still I rate him as the best Captain after the Ricky Ponting, best wicket keeper & Best Finisher in ODI cricket.
Dhoni is very famous of using DRS to challenge umpire decisions in Cricket field. Hence someone defined the DRS as 'Dhoni Review System' for humor.
Dhoni's captaincy skills were well showed in the match against Bangladesh in 2016 World T20. Bangladesh nearly on a historical victory as they just needed 2 runs to win from 3 balls. Moreover, their strike batsmen Mushfiqur Rahim & Mahamaddullah Riyad was on the crease. Dhoni Perfectly used the young Hardik Pandya to deliver next 3 deliveries without no run & won the game.
In IPL, Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings was played in every semifinal. That was a great achievement for a captain.
Rumors said that there will be no chance to see MS Dhoni play in International cricket. But I still waiting him to play at least a one last time.
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