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July 7 will always hold a special place in Indian cricket history. On this day, 45 years ago, former captain and wicketkeeper MS Dhoni was born in Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand). Over the years, he would go on to become one of, if not the most successful, captains in the nation’s history.
Coming from a humble background, things were tough during the initial years of his professional career. After excelling in the domestic circuit and for India A, Dhoni made his India debut in 2004 against Bangladesh in Chattogram. Following a run of poor scores to begin his international career, he announced himself on the grand stage by hitting 148 off just 123 balls. Months later, he would register his career-best score of 183 not out against Pakistan to stamp himself as one of the most lethal players in the world game.
The legend of Dhoni reached a new stratosphere when he was named captain of India’s T20 World Cup squad in 2007. Leading an inexperienced side, he guided the nation to their first ICC title in 24 years, beating Pakistan in the final. From then on, Indian cricket took a turn which eventually led to the right-handed batter becoming a legendary captain.
Under Dhoni’s guidance, India had some memorable victories, including the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008 and the Test series win in New Zealand a year later, amongst others.
The Jharkhand-born star, however, will always be remembered for taking India to the 2011 World Cup title and the Champions Trophy crown two years later. Following an underwhelming campaign throughout the World Cup, the wicketkeeper-batter rose to the occasion to score an unbeaten 91 in the final against Sri Lanka. The winning six off the bowling of Nuwan Kulasekara has been etched into Indian cricket folklore forever.
In the Champions Trophy, Dhoni took an inexperienced and young squad to the title against hosts England, defending a mere 130 runs in the final off 20 overs. Amongst all the success in the Indian jersey, Dhoni also played a huge role in making the Chennai Super Kings one of the most successful teams in the history of the Indian Premier League. Under his captaincy, CSK secured five IPL titles and two Champions League T20 crowns, making him franchise cricket’s greatest-ever skipper.
Amongst all the achievements as captain, it is hard to forget Dhoni’s contribution as a batter and a wicketkeeper. He is only one of six Indian batters to score more than 10,000 runs in ODI cricket and the only one to not bat in the top order. He ended his international career with 10,773 runs in 350 matches in 50-over cricket, along with a further 4,876 runs in 90 Test matches. Throughout his international career, he took a total of 634 catches and performed 195 stumpings across all formats.
It is hard to imagine the current Indian team without Dhoni’s contribution as a batter and captain. He retired from international cricket at the end of the 2019 World Cup and is currently in the twilight of his CSK career.
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