MS Dhoni

About MS Dhoni

Who is MS Dhoni

MS Dhoni is one of the 15 players who have been named in the India squad to play the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 in England and Wales. MS Dhoni, who made his one-day international debut on 23-Dec-04, had played 341 ODI matches until the 2019 World Cup. In the 289 innings he batted in, he had scored a total of 10500 runs, having faced 11992 balls, at an average of 50.72 and a strike rate of 87.56. He was unbeaten in 82 of those innings. His highest score in an innings was 183*. He had 10 centuries and 71 half-centuries to his name. In the bowling department, MS Dhoni had bowled 36 balls and taken 1 wicket while conceding a total of 31 runs. He had an average of 31 and an economy rate of 5.17 His best ODI bowling performance was 1/14.

Teams: Chennai Super Kings, Asia XI, India, Indians, Jharkhand, Rising Pune Supergiant, India A.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni considered a legendary wicketkeeper-batsman, bats right handed and has bowled right arm medium in a few matches. He captained India in limited-overs games from 2007 to 2016 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. Dhoni earned the ‘Captain Cool’ tag for his calm style even in crunch situations to help India win crucial matches. He is, deservedly, counted among the greatest finishers in limited-overs cricket. In 2011, he led India to the ODI world cup victory. The icing on the cake was that he finished off the final match with a six to win India the trophy after 28 years. Dhoni made his Ranji debut in the 1999-2000 season at the age of 18 years, playing for Bihar, and scored 68 not out on his debut. In April 2019, he was named in India's squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

ODI career

Dhoni started his One-Day International (ODI) career against Bangladesh at M A Aziz Stadium in Chattogram (Chittagong) on December 23, 2004. He did not have a great ODI debut as he was run out for a duck in that match. However, Dhoni was picked again for the ODI series against Pakistan that year, and that marked Dhoni’s coming of age. In what also started the ‘Dhoni’ era of Indian cricket history, the youngster scored 148 runs and ripped Pakistani bowlers apart, smashing them all around the park in Visakhapatnam. In 341 ODI matches that he has played so far, he has scored a total of 10,500 runs at an average of 50.72 and an impressive strike rate of 87.55. He has scored 10 hundreds and 70 fifties in ODIs, and his highest ODI score is 183, which is also the highest score by any wicketkeeper-batsman in the world. Dhoni is the first non-Australian and third overall to win 100 games as captain.

IPL career

Chennai Super Kings (CSK) grabbed Dhoni for a whopping Rs 15 crore for the first season of the IPL which made him the most expensive player in the IPL that year. Dhoni, who has been the captain of CSK since the start of Indian Premier League, took the franchise to glory in 2010, 2011 and 2018. After the suspension of CSK for two years, he was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant in 2016, again as captain. However, Pune finished second-last (7th) that year. But Dhoni rejuvenated his team in 2017 and went on to reach the final of IPL’s 10th edition, and lost to Mumbai Indians in the finale. In the 190 matches MS Dhoni has played in the various editions of IPL so far, he has scored 4,432 runs at an average of 42.20 and a strike rate of 137.85. His best score has been 84 not out in the 2019 edition. He has also had a sound record behind the stumps, with 98 catches and 38 stumpings.

T20I career

Dhoni made his T20 International debut against South Africa at The Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg on December 1, 2006. He was first named India’s captain in the shortest format of the game after senior players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid backed him. In his first captaincy stint, he led an inexperienced side and won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, bringing a T20 revolution in India. Dhoni is the first player to score 1,000 runs in T20Is without even scoring a career half-century. He also holds the record for scoring the most number of career runs in the T20I history before hitting the first fifty -- that is, 1,153 runs. In 96 T20I matches, he has so far scored 1,548 runs at an average of 36.86 and a superb strike rate of 126.68. He has scored two fifties.

Test career

Dhoni played his first Test match against Sri Lanka at M A Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on December 2, 2005. He was named the captain of the Indian cricket team in the longest format of the game after the retirement of Anil Kumble in 2008. Under his captaincy, India became the number one side in Test cricket for the first time, in 2009. He was also the first Indian wicketkeeper batsman to complete 4,000 runs in Test cricket. Dhoni announced his retirement from Tests after the Boxing Day Test against Australia in 2014. However, one record that that Captain Cool holds but would not like to is that of the most number of overseas Test defeats (15) by an Indian captain.