The whole country was still recovering from the aftermath of a disastrous World Cup campaign in the West Indies in 2007 when Mahendra Singh Dhoni was asked to lead a bunch of rookies in another World Cup – the inaugural World T20 in South Africa. Two weeks later, the boy wonder from Ranchi managed to put a grin on every Indian’s face as he led India to the World T20 title.
Shortly afterwards, he was handed the captaincy across all formats and what followed is beyond everyone’s imaginations. One after another, he scaled unprecedented heights with a team that was a fine blend of youth and experience as India enjoyed arguably their finest years in the history of the game. He led the Indian team to their first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand followed by the historic CB Series victory in 2007–08 in Australia.
In 2009, Dhoni led the Indian team to No. 1 position for the first time in the ICC Test rankings. He also led them to series wins in New Zealand and the West Indies, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008, 2010. It was followed by 2010 Asia Cup title and the all-important 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup. In 2013, he became the first captain to win all three ICC’s limited-overs trophies (World Cup, Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20) after winning the ICC Champions Trophy in England.
But as they say, all good things must come to an end – the fairytale ended in 2014 when Dhoni stepped down from Test captaincy after a string of poor results. Earlier this year, India’s most decorated skipper stepped down from all forms of captaincy and gave his deputy Virat Kohli the charge across every format. He has continued playing as the wicketkeeper-batsman in the team and we really hope that ‘Mahi’ continues to serve the Indian cricket for years to come.
Indian cricket has started a new chapter under Virat Kohli and fans across the country are really excited to embark on a new adventure. But at the same time, no one can forget Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s immense contribution to the game. Here is a small video tribute to India’s most successful captain:
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x57fov8_ms-dhoni-tribute-msd-fan-forever_sport