MAHENDRA SINGH DHONI

• Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a former Indian International Cricketer who captained the Indian National Team in the Limited over formats and in the Test Cricket from 2007-2017 and 2008-2014 respectively.
• He is the only captain in the History of Cricket to have won all ICC trophies.
• He is widely regarded as one of the greatest captain and wicket-keeper batsmen in the history of the game.
• Dhoni also holds numerous captaincy records such as the most wins by an Indian captain in ODIs and T20Is, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs.
• Dhoni also led the Indian team to number one position for the first time in the ICC Test rankings.
• The Indian Territorial Army conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel to MS Dhoni on 1 November 2011. He is the Second Indian cricketer after Kapil Dev to receive this honour.

EARLY LIFE:


• MS Dhoni was born on July 7 1981 in Ranchi, Bihar in a Hindu Rajput family to Pan Singh and Devki Devi.
• He has a sister Jayanti Gupta and a brother Narendra Singh Dhoni.
• He did his schooling from DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Ranchi, Jharkhand and excelled in multiple sports such as Badminton, Football and Cricket.
• Dhoni was a goalkeeper for his football team and was sent to play cricket for a local cricket club by his football coach.
• Though he had not played cricket, he got impressed with his wicket-keeping skills and he became the regular Wicket-keeper at the Commando cricket club(1995–1998).
• He showed impressive wicket-keeping skills at the Commando Cricket Club during 1995-98 and was picked up for Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship for 1997-98 session and he played well.
• During 2001-2003, he worked as a Travelling Ticket Examiner at Kharagpur Railway Station, under South Eastern Railway in West Bengal.

CRICKET CAREER:

• JUNIOR CRICKET TEAM:

  
  • Till 1998, Dhoni played for his School Cricket team and Club Cricket.
  • In the year 1998, MS Dhoni was selected for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team.
  • With his excellent performance for CCL, he was included in the Bihar U-19 squad for the 1998–99 season and he scored 176 runs in just 5 matches.
  • Bihar U-19 Cricket team advanced to the Finals of 1999–2000 Cooch Behar Trophy, where Dhoni made 84 to help Bihar post a total of 357. Bihar's efforts went in vain as Punjab U-19's made 839 with Dhoni's future national squad teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358.
  • Dhoni's contribution in the tournament included 488 runs in 9 matches including 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings.
  • His efforts were recognised and he was selected to the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy.

• JHARKHAND CRICKET TEAM:

  
  • Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999–2000 season, as an eighteen-year-old.
  • He made a half century in his debut match scoring 68* against Assam.
  • Dhoni finished the season with 283 runs in 5 matches and he scored his maiden first-class century against Bengal in the year 2000-01.
  • In the year 2002–03, he scored 3 half-centuries in the Ranji Trophy and a couple of half-centuries in the Deodhar Trophy.
  • He started to gain recognition for his lower-order contribution as well as hard-hitting batting style.
  • Dhoni was a part of the East Zone squad that won the Deodhar Trophy 2003–2004 season and he contributed 244 runs in 4 matches including a century(114).

• INDIA-A:

  
  • He was recognised for his efforts in the 2003-04 season, and was picked for the India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.
  • Against the Zimbabwe XI in Harare Sports Club, he had his best wicket-keeping effort with 7 catches and 4 stumpings in the match.
  • In the Tri-nation tournament involving Kenya, India A and Pakistan A, Dhoni helped India A chase down their target of 223 against Pakistan A with a half-century.
  • Continuing his good performance, he scored back to back centuries (120(60) and 119*(61)) against the same team.
  • Dhoni scored 362 runs in 6 innings at an average of 72.40 and his performance in this series received attention from the then Indian captain– Sourav Ganguly and Ravi Shastri amongst others.

• INTERNATIONAL CRICKET TEAM:

  
  • With Dhoni making a mark in the India A squad, he was picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004-05.
  • He did not have a great start to his ODI career, getting run out for a duck on debut.
  • In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, he was picked for the Pakistan ODI series.
  • In his fifth ODI, he scored 148(123) in Visakhapatnam. He surpassed the earlier record for the highest score by an Indian wicket-keeper.
  • He had few batting opportunities in the first two games of the Sri Lankan bilateral ODI series in the year 2005. He was promoted to No.3 in the third ODI to accelerate the innings and he ended the game with an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls, winning the game for India.
  • He was awarded the Man of the Series award in this series against Sri Lanka.
  • Due to his consistent ODI performances, he overtook Ricky Ponting as No.1 in ICC ODI Rankings for batsmen on 20 April 2006 becoming the fastest batsman to do so in 42 innings.
  
  
  • India unexpectedly crashed out of the 2007 World Cup after losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in the group stage. After the loss against Bangladesh, the house that Dhoni was constructing in his home-town Ranchi was vandalised and damaged by political activists.
  • Dhoni was named the captain of Indian squad for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa in September 2007.
  • India won the Trophy defeating Pakistan in a nail biting final.
  • He then became the ODI captain of the Indian team for the 7 match ODI series against Australia in 2007.
  • Dhoni topped the ICC ODI Batsman rankings for several months in 2009.
  • He had an excellent year in ODIs in 2009, scoring 1198 runs in just 24 innings, at an astonishing average of 70.43. He was also the joint top-scorer in ODIs in 2009 along with Ricky Ponting, but the latter having played 30 innings.
  • Later under his captaincy, India was seen as "favorites" in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and they made it to the finals defeating Australia and Pakistan in Quater-Finals and Semi-Finals respectively.
  • Chasing a target of 275 in the Finals against Sri Lanka, Dhoni rescued his team along with Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh to help India lift their second World Cup title since 1983. He scored 91 not out finishing the game with a historical six and claiming the Man of the Match award.
  
  • In March 2013, he became the most successful Indian Test captain.
  • India won 2013 ICC Champions Trophy under Dhoni's captaincy and he became the first and the only captain in international cricket to claim all ICC trophies.
  • In November 2013, Dhoni became the second India batsman after Sachin Tendulkar to aggregate 1,000 or more ODI-runs against Australia
  • During the 2015 Cricket World Cup, Dhoni became the first Indian captain to win all group stage matches in such a tournament.
  • In 2016, Dhoni surpassed former Australian captain Ricky Ponting to become the most experienced captain in international cricket.
  
  
  • Dhoni stepped down as captain of India in the limited over formats in January 2017.
  
  • Dhoni became the first wicket-keeper to effect 100 stumpings surpassing Kumar Sangakkara in the year 2017 and he also reached the milestone of effecting 400 dismissals in ODIs in February 2018.
  • Dhoni went past 10,000 ODI runs in the second ODI against England during his team's 2018 tour, and he became the Fourth Indian and Twelfth overall to do so.
  • Dhoni was named in the 15-man squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup. Though he scored some handy knocks, he was critised for his strike rate.
  • In the same final against New Zealand, he scored a half-century but was unfortunately run out at a crucial stage thus ending India's World Cup run.
  • Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on 15 August 2020 on the day of India's 74th independence.
  • He did so by posting a video on Instagram, captioned as "Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout.from 1929 hrs consider me as Retired".

• INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE (IPL):

  
  • In the first season of IPL in 2008, Dhoni was contracted by the Chennai Super Kings for US$1.5 million, becoming the most expensive player in the first season auctions.
  • Under his captaincy, the team won 2010, 2011 and 2018 IPL titles. The team also won 2010 and 2014 Champions League T20 titles.
  
  • CSK holds the record of most appearances in the playoffs(10) and the Final(8) in 11 IPL seasons.
  • MS Dhoni also added another feather to his cap as he became the first wicketkeeper to inflict 150 dismissals in the IPL.
  • He became the first player to complete 200 matches for Chennai Super Kings. He has played 176 matches for CSK in IPL and the rest 24 in the now-defunct Champions League T20.
  • Dhoni has smashed 209 sixes in IPL so far, the most by an Indian batsman and 3rd overall in IPL. He also has got most sixes(141) in death overs (17-20).

PERSONAL LIFE:


• MS Dhoni fell in love with Priyanka Jha, whom he met in his early 20s.
• At that time in the year 2002, Dhoni was trying his best to get selected in the Indian team. The same year, she died in an accident.
• Later, MS Dhoni married Sakshi Singh Rawat, his school friend on July 4, 2010.
• On February 6, 2015, the couple gave birth to a baby girl named Ziva.
• At this time, he was in Australia and 2015 Cricket World Cup was a week later.
• He didn't travel back and quoted 'I am on national duty, other things can wait' which was appreciated by many.

CRICKET RECORDS:

• TEST CRICKET:

  
  • In 2009, under Dhoni's captaincy, India topped the ICC Test Cricket rankings for the first time.
  • He has 15 overseas Test defeats, the most by an Indian captain.
  • He is the most successful Indian Test captain with 27 Test wins eclipsing Sourav Ganguly's record of 21.
  • His maiden century(148) against Pakistan is the fastest century till date scored by an Indian Wicket-keeper and fourth overall.
  • He became the first Indian Wicket-keeper to complete 4,000 Test runs.
  • Dhoni scored 224 against Australia. This is the highest score by a Wicket-keeper–Captain and third highest score by an Indian Captain.
  • Dhoni shares the record for most dismissals in an innings (6, with Syed Kirmani) and in a match (9) by an Indian wicket-keeper.

• ODI CRICKET:

  
  • Dhoni holds the record for playing the most matches in ODI history as captain who has also served as a Wicket-keeper(200 matches).
  • He is the Third and First Indian Captain to win 100 games.
  • He is the Fourth Indian Cricketer and Second Wicket-keeper to reach 10,000 ODI runs.
  • He is the First player to pass 10,000 runs in ODI cricket with having a career average of over 50.
  • He scored 183* against Sri Lanka-the highest score by a Wicket-keeper.
  • He is the First Indian and fifth overall to hit 200 sixes in ODIs
  • Dhoni holds the records of the most dismissals in an innings (6) and career (432) by an Indian wicket-keeper.
  • He is the First Indian and Fourth Wicket-keeper in the world to take 300 ODI catches.
  • He is the only player to score more than one hundred in ODI cricket when batting at number 7 position or lower.

• T20 CRICKET

  
  • Dhoni holds the record of most wins as a Captain (41 wins).
  • He is the only player who have played the most matches as both Captain and Wicket-keeper (72 matches).
  • He holds the record of most catches as Wicket-keeper in T20Is (54 catches).
  • He holds the record of most dismissals as Wicket-keeper in T20Is (87 dismissals).
  • He holds the record of most stumpings as Wicket-keeper in T20Is (33 stumpings).
  • He also holds the record of playing most consecutive T20I innings without a duck (84 innings).
  • He also holds the records of most catches as a Wicketkeeper in a T20I innings(5 catches).

AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS: