Former Pakistan skipper Misbah-ul-Haq has picked MS Dhoni as his cricketing idol from India, ahead of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid. During a chat with India Today recently, Misbah said he would have picked Sachin but he went for Dhoni for all the success team India has achieved under him.
“As a batsman, I would pick Sachin Tendulkar. But I would pick MS Dhoni because of the change and the achievement that Indian cricket witnessed under his captaincy. There are no doubts that there have been big names who cannot be forgotten like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly but I still believe whatever India has achieved under Dhoni are very big achievements,” he told India Today.
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Dhoni is the most successful captain in the history of Indian cricket. He is also the only captain in the history of the game to have won all the ICC tournaments – 50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup and ICC Champions Trophy. Dhoni’s achievements saw him leapfrog legends like Sachin, Dravid and Sourav Ganguly for Misbah-ul-Haq.
Dhoni is a member of the Indian cricket team for Worl Cup 2019, that is expected to be the last international fixture for him. The wicketkeeper-batsman is highly unlikely to continue playing the game post the ICC tournament and is expected to take a call on his career. If not ODI cricket, he is surely expected to call it quits from the shortest format of the game.
Last year, he was also dropped from the T20I squad for the series against West Indies and Australia. Keeping T20 World Cup 2020 in mind, selectors are expected to give more and more chances to Rishabh Pant in the shortest format of the game.
Talking of Misbah-ul-Haq, he retired from international cricket in 2017, during Test series against West Indies. Another Pakistan legend Younis Khan also retired fro the game during the same series.
Misbah also led Pakistan at the international level and was the leader of the team when Men in Blue registered yet another win over Men in Green at World Cup in 2015. Apart from that, Misbah was also a part of the squad in 2007 T20 World Cup final.
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He was the last batsman to be dismissed in the final over of the match bowled by Joginder Sharma. Incidentally, he was also the final batsman to be dismissed in the semi-final of 2011 World Cup that India won to qualify for the final. Dhoni was the captain of India on the occasions.