On Monday (23rd December 2019), the former Indian captain MS Dhoni completed his 15 years of international cricket career. In this long international career, Dhoni has created many remarkable moments, and most of those are unforgettable. Here we have come with some top yearly images of MS Dhoni in his long international cricket career.
2004 – MS Dhoni debut
On 23rd December 2004, MS Dhoni made his international debut during the Chattogram ODI against Bangladesh. The right-handed wicketkeeper-batsman was run-out for a duck when he faced the first international delivery. As a wicketkeeper, Dhoni took two catches and also successfully made one stumping in that ODI.
2005 – First international century
Playing his fifth ODI (against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam) on 5th April 2005, MS Dhoni was promoted to the no.3 batting position where he smashed his maiden international century. While he completed his century in 88 balls, he scored 148 runs in just 123 balls.
183* against Sri Lanka
In the same year, Dhoni registered his highest ODI score against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31st October 2005. Chasing down the 299 runs target, Dhoni came to the crease in the first over and played the match-winning knock of 183 not out.
2006 – First Test century
In his first away series, MS Dhoni registered his maiden Test century. It was the Faisalabad Test against the hosts Pakistan (started on 21st January 2006), where Dhoni completed his century in 93 balls and scored 148 runs.
2007 – Winning ICC World T20
It was the inaugural edition of the ICC World T20. On 24th September 2007, MS Dhoni-led India beat Pakistan in the final of the tournament by just five runs, and it created history by becoming the first champion of the ICC World T20 history.
2008 – Winning CB Series
It was the second final of the best of three final series of Commonwealth Bank tri-series against the hosts Australia at Brisbane on 4th March 2008. While India won that ODI by nine runs, they took the 2-0 lead in that final series and won the trophy.
2009 – ICC Test Championship Mace
Since ICC started the team ranking system in June 2003, MS Dhoni was the first Indian captain to take the Indian team to the no.1 spot of the ICC Test team rankings. On 27th December 2009, the Indian captain Dhoni took the ICC Test Championship mace.
2010 – Winning Asia Cup
After waiting 15 long years, India finally won an Asia Cup trophy which was their fifth Asia Cup title. MS Dhoni once again led the Indian team to create another history as they won the Asia Cup 2010 after beating the hosts Sri Lanka (by 81 runs) in the final of the tournament at Dambulla on 24th June 2010.
2011 – Winning ICC Cricket World Cup
Around 28 years later of India’s first Cricket World Cup victory in 1983 under the captain of Kapil Dev, MS Dhoni-led India won country’s second Cricket World Cup. On 2nd April 2011, India beat Sri Lanka (by six wickets) in the final of 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai). While Dhoni was the Player of the Match for playing the unbeaten knock of 91 runs, he finished the game with a sixer.
2012 – Heroic batting in Adelaide ODI
Chasing down the 270 runs target against the hosts Australia in the Adelaide ODI on 12th February 2012, MS Dhoni (44 not out) played a great calculative knock in a master way. Staying in the crease till the end of that match, Dhoni remarkably finished that game in the final tensed moment. India needed 12 runs in the final four balls, Dhoni secured a memorable victory with two balls to spare. He did almost a similar thing in the next ODI against Sri Lanka, and it had a tied result.
2013 – Winning ICC Champions Trophy
On 23rd June 2013, MS Dhoni became the first captain to win three different ICC trophies after winning the ICC Champions Trophy 2013 by beating the hosts England (by five runs) in the rain-interrupted final of that tournament.
2014 – Winning bilateral ODI series against England
India had to wait for 24 years long to win an ODI bilateral series against the hosts England, and once again captain MS Dhoni did that magic. In that five-match ODI series (25th August to 5th September 2014), India won by the 3-1 margin.
2015 – Remarkable partnership between Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni helped India to beat Zimbabwe in the ICC Cricket World Cup
Chasing down the 288 runs target against Zimbabwe in the group stage game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 at Auckland (14th March 2015), India were once battling on 92/4. However, the experienced partners MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina put the giant unbroken fifth-wicket partnership of 196 runs and secured a remarkable six-wicket victory (with eight balls remaining). While Raina scored 110 not out, Dhoni played an unbeaten knock of 85 runs.
2016 – Remarkable run-out
No one will forget this remarkable run-out from MS Dhoni that secured India’s impossible-like victory. It was the Super 10 stage game of the ICC World T20 2016 between India and Bangladesh at Bangalore on 23rd March 2016 that India won by one run. Bangladesh only needed to win two runs in the last three balls, and Bangladesh lost three wickets in the final three balls of that match, including this unforgettable run-out. Brilliantly using his presence of mind, Dhoni once again proved his finisher-tag.
2017 – Maiden T20I half-century
Since his T20I debut, it took more than ten years for MS Dhoni to register his maiden T20I half-century. It was the Bengaluru T20I between India and England (1st February 2017), where Dhoni scored 56 runs off 36 balls, and it helped India to score 202/6 (20 overs) in the first innings. Later, the leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal’s six wickets helped India to win that match by 75 runs, and it led them to win that three-match series too.
2018 – Captain MS Dhoni return
In the absence of captain and vice-captain, MS Dhoni returned to the ODI captaincy for a day, and it became his 200th ODI captaincy too. It was the Super Four stage game of 2018 Asia Cup between India and Afghanistan at Dubai (DSC), and it had a tie result.
2019 – MS Dhoni played a heroic knock in the semi-final of ICC CWC
It was the semi-final of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 between India and New Zealand at Manchester on 10th July 2019. Though it has a slightly different context than other pictures of this article, it was undoubtedly a heroic moment for Dhoni.
On that reserve-day of that semi-final, India had to chase 240 runs target, but they were struggling on 71/5 when Dhoni came to bat. From 92/6, Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja batted remarkably, and they were very close to snatching that game. But Jadeja (77) and Dhoni’s (50) dismissals forced India to lose that game by 18 runs. Kiwi opener Martin Guptill’s direct throw ended Dhoni’s outstanding performance which was also a heart-breaking for the Indian team and the entire Indian cricket fans. It was also Dhoni’s last cricket match in 2019.