MS Dhoni, the legend, the icon, the ICC Hall of Famer turned 44 today. He has every trophy in the world and is loved by many.
He is known for his calm under pressure and strategic brain and has been a household name in India since 2004. During his CSK days in IPL, he has given to his country and his hometown Ranchi.
With 17,266 international runs, 829 dismissals and 538 matches for India, he is one of the greatest and a game changer. He along with Adam Gilchrist showed that wicketkeepers can also be good batsmen. Dhoni raised the bar for wicketkeepers, he used to score runs like a top order batsman, whereas earlier wicketkeepers were only required to catch and stump. He, Yuvraj, Suresh Raina made a strong middle order batting line up.
Dhoni is a ODI specialist. In 350 matches he has scored 10,773 runs at 50.57 with 10 centuries and 73 fifties with a highest score of 183*. He is 6th in India’s ODI run scorers list behind Sachin Tendulkar (18,426 runs). His ability to score over 10,000 runs with an average above 50 while batting down the order makes his stats even more impressive.
He has captained India in 200 ODI matches, won 110 and lost 74. 5 matches were tied and 11 were no result. His win percentage is 55%. As captain he won the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 for India.
Dhoni is known as Thala of CSK played 98 T20Is for India, scored 1,617 runs at 37.60 and a strike rate of 126.13. He has 2 half centuries in this format with a highest score of 56. He captained the ICC T20 World Cup winning team in 2007. Dhoni led India in 72 T20Is, won 41 and lost 28, 1 tie and 2 no results. His win percentage is 56.94%In Tests Dhoni played 90 matches, scored 4,876 runs at 38.09. This includes 6 centuries and 33 fifties with a highest score of 224. He is 14th in India’s Test run scorers list.
As captain he led India in 60 Test matches, won 27, lost 18 and drew 15. His win percentage is 45.00% and he is one of the most successful captains of India. He took India to number one spot in ICC Test Rankings and is the only Indian captain to beat Australia in Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2010-11 and 2012-13 series.
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Dhoni is also a force in franchise cricket. He is 6th in IPL run scorers list with 5,439 runs in 278 matches at 38.30 with 24 fifties and a strike rate of over 137. He has won 5 IPL titles and 2 Champions League T20 titles with CSK, making the franchise popular because of him.
He gets cheered when he walks in, hoping to see him bat.
When Dhoni joined the team in 2004, nobody thought he would achieve what he did as a wicketkeeper-batsman. His stumping and catching, sixes and helicopter shot will be remembered for ages.
