India Independence day 2020 was the day former India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from International Cricket.
Unorthodox he may be, but what a player he had become out of it. Having grown up on the streets of Ranchi(city in Jharkand, India) no one expected him to have a successful career as he had, but did he prove everyone wrong.
December 2004 was the year Dhoni announced himself on the International stage. However it was not the ideal start to his career as re was ran out without facing a ball in his ODI debut match against Bangladesh. However, things did turn around for him following a swashbuckling 148 not out in his fifth ODI against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam in 2005.
The innings was a trade mark of the kind of player he was, particularly in the first half of his career with his ferocious six hitting ability. This was quickly followed up by another explosive innings of 183 not out against Sri Lanka in Jaipur. This was his second ODI series of his career. Following the early loss of Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni was promoted to number three in the batting order ahead of skipper Rahul Dravid with India chasing a daunting target of 299runs. Dhoni's 183 not out guided India to yet another win on home soil.
Another turning point of Dhoni's career came after India's tour of England in 2007, where he was announced as captain of India's T20 World Cup . This was the hallmark of Dhoni's journey of becoming one of the greatest limited-overs captains of all time, especially when he and India shocked the world by winning the first inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. This was then followed by India's rise to claiming the top spot in the Test rankings in 2009.
However, this did not satisfy Dhoni's India as the one thing they wanted was that second World Cup. with India being one of three nations to host the 2011 edition along with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, there was a sense of expectation for Dhoni's men to deliver the goods, especially with this being Tendulkar's last chance to add a World Cup to his remarkable career. Dhoni was in charge of a pretty experienced squad of which included the likes of The Little Master, the explosive Virender Sehwag, veteran off spinner Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Suresh Raina and current Skipper Virat Kohli. Being the number one side in ODI's, India went into the tournament as hot favourites, especially on home soil.
Having had a torrid Caribbean World Cup campaign in 2007, there was even more pressure on Dhoni's side to make this tournament a memorable one, and boy did they deliver, especially with the form of of Yuvraj Singh, who was named 'Man of the Tournament' for his all-round contribution with 362 runs along with 15 wickets.
Dhoni has also led Chennai Super Kings to four IPL(Indian Premier League) titles and one Champions League title. One of the reasons as to why the Super Kings have been so consistent in winning those titles and the Champions League is the strong Indian contingent of Dhoni himself, Ashwin, Jadeja who joined in season four, Raina and Harbhajan Singh, who was brought in season ten.
One of Dhoni's key attributes as a player was the ability to remain calm under pressure, which is what made him such a great captain and player, especially in the one day and T20 formats. He was also a good reader of the game and knew what decisions to make at the right time. Even when Kohli took over the role of captaining the white ball side, Dhoni was still in charge of setting the fields and giving instructions to the bowlers.
During India's tour of South Africa, the stump mics caught footage of the former Indian skipper giving advice to the bowlers on what to bowl and when. These were signs of Dhoni reliving his days as captain even though he handefCup came around, despite Dhoni's best efforts to help India try and win the semi-final against New Zealand at Old Trafford, you could see that the veteran Keeper-batsman looked burned out of International Cricket, especially after an incredible 15-year journey.
Feature Image: MS Dhoni by Khabari Londa via Flickr, Creative Commons
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