December 23, 2004: When MS Dhoni


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DATE: Dec. 24, 2017, 6:35 a.m.

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  1. On December 23, 2004, India's most successful captain pulled on an Indian shirt for the firs time.
  2. After impressing the selectors in India A matches, a long-haired boys from Ranchi was given the gloves. He was picked for the 1st ODI against Bangladesh at Chittagong, in the three-match series. Joginder Sharma, whose fate was somehow linked with Dhoni (read the final over in the first-ever T20 World Cup against Pakistan in South Africa), also made his debut in the same match.
  3. Dhoni got the opportunity with the bat first and came out at seven. He joined Mohammad Kaif at the crease, but his first ball in international cricket did not exactly go according to plan. He was run-out after a yes-no call from his partner at the other end. He had to make his long walk back o the pavilion for a golden duck on debut.
  4. In the next three innings he only managed to score 22 runs and then came the turning point. He was promoted up the order at No. 3 against Pakistan at Visakhapatnam in the second ODI and he hammered a 123-ball 148 against a decent Pakistan attack. Later that year, he clobbered his highest ODI score of 183 off just 145 balls against the Lankans at Jaipur. He has scored 4876 runs in ODIs, including 10 hundreds with a highest of 183 not out. He has an astounding average of 51.55 and has also scorred 67 fifties.
  5. In the shortest format he has 1348 runs to his name and only fifty. He has represented India in 90 Test matches, scoring 4,876 runs at an average of 38.09, hitting six centuries and 33 fifties. Dhoni was also involved in 294 dismissals, out of which 256 were catches and 38 were stumpings. Dhoni is the fifth most successful wicketkeeper in the format.
  6. Dhoni has been brilliant with the gloves too behind the wickets. He has taken 293 catches and has been involved in 105 stumpings in ODIs. In Tests he has taken 256catches and 38 stumpings. In T20Is he has 47 catches and 29 stumpings.
  7. He guided the young team minus all the stars to a World Cup victory for the first time since Kapil Dev's triumph in 1983 and gave people an idea of his calmness and maturity. He took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid in the same year and led the team to its first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand.
  8. India also won the CB series in Australia under him in 2008 and as reports of Anil Kumble giving up captaincy grew stronger, people were strongly backing Dhoni to take over. Just three years after making his debut.
  9. He was indeed handed the captaincy after Jumbo left and he led the team to series wins in New Zealand and West Indies. He also guided India to Border-Gavaskar Trophies over Australia in 2008, 2010 and 2013. In 2013, under his captaincy, India became the first team in more than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. He also hit his career-best score of 224 during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Chennai in 2013.
  10. He also has another unique achievement to his name. He is the only captain to win all three ICC trophies. He started with the T20 World Cup in 2007 and then starred in India's first 50-over World Cup win in 2011 with an unbeaten 79-ball 91 in the final against the Lankans with a signature six over long-on to lift the trophy after 28 years. Two years later, he guided India to their second Champions Trophy triumph in England.
  11. After a brilliant 2013, the following year didn't go well for him and India. They were tormented in England and he went into the Australia tour with an injury before finally deciding to walk away from Test after the third game of the series.
  12. He however, decided to continue playing limited-overs cricket and lead the side until early 2017, when he decided to step down and hand over the baton to Kohli in all the formats.
  13. The 36-year-old captained his country in 331 international matches from 2007 to 2016, the most by any. Ricky Ponting comes second with 324.
  14. He is India's most successful captain so far in terms of numbers with 178 victories from 331 matches. He captained India in 60 Tests, winning 27 and losing 18. In limited-overs cricket, Dhoni led India to 110 wins from 199 ODIs and 41 victories from 72 T20Is. Dhoni had a win percentage of 53.78.

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