The Sports Legends of India : Part 1 | The Legacy of MS DHONI

MS Dhoni retired from International Cricket on 15th August, 2020 at 19:29 hours. He announced his retirement by posting a video on Instagram along with the caption "Thanks a lot for your love and support throughout. From 1929 hrs consider me Retired". The video consists of a series of running stills of various memories, both sweet and bitter, of his long and illustrious career and it marked the end of an era of cricket in India. This video took by storm within minutes and became the talk of every Indian media house. His seniors, contemporaries, juniors, opponents and others of the cricketing fraternity congratulated him for a wonderful career and wished him success for the next phase of his life. It almost became a doomsday for his fans, they took to their social media accounts and expressed grief in all possible ways as they would no longer be able to watch him play wearing the blue jersey. It was the day when every cricket fan around the world bade farewell to one of the all time greats of the sport.

That is all about the day MS Dhoni retired. Let us now travel back to the time when he wore the blue jersey for the first time.

DEBUT

It was around 2004 when India was in desperate need of a specialist wicket keeper who could bat. At that time Dhoni had a phenomenal series for India-A and received attention from the then Indian Captain, Sourav Ganguly. He was then picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh Tour in 2004-05. Dhoni didn't have a great start as he got run out for a golden duck. His performance in the whole series was below par but was still selected for the Pakistan tour.

EMERGENCE AS A PERFORMER

The first match of the Pakistan tour was no difference for Dhoni. But things turned when Ganguly promoted him at number three in the next match. Dhoni scored a massive 148 runs off 123 deliveries and announced his arrival in international cricket. Later that year, he scored 183* runs against Sri Lanka chasing a target of 299 and won the match for India. The innings stands as the highest ODI score by any wicket keeper till date. Dhoni scored the highest number of runs in that series and was awarded the man of the series. 

In 2005, Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik as wicket kepper in the Test Squad. He scored his first test ton against Pakistan.

In 2006, Dhoni scored a lot of runs against Pakistan and Australia in ODIs. His partnership with Yuvraj Singh solved all the middle order worries for India. His stellar performance with the bat continued but his wicket keeping techniques were criticised a lot.

His batting performances earned him the top spot in the ODI rankings having played only 42 innings. But, he lost the top spot to Adam Gilchrist a week later. He was also nominated in the ICC ODI XI in 2006.

He also worked a lot on his wicket keeping skills and gradually became extraordinary at executing stumpings. 

WORLD CUP 2007

India had a bad run in 2007 world cup. They lost matches against Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in the league stage and had an early exit from the tournament. Dhoni scored duck in both the matches. People across the country became furious with team India's performance. They pelted stones at many cricketers' houses. Dhoni's house was vandalised and his posters were burned. 

Many cricket experts and players put the blame of India's bad performance in the world cup on coach Greg Chappell for his disastrous team management.

Dhoni proved his worth again with good performances in ODI series against Bangladesh and Afro-Asia cup. Dhoni was then named the vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa and the subsequent IND-ENG ODI series.

DHONI - THE CAPTAIN

ICC decided to hold the T20 World Cup in September 2007. The three stalwarts of Indian Cricket Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly decided not to participate. BCCI then nominated Dhoni as the captain of a relatively young and inexperienced team.
That team later went on to win the tournament after a collective team effort. Sehwag, Gambhir, Yuvraj, Uthappa, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh had a promising tournament among others. Dhoni also had a few good innings but it was his unpredictable but effective captaincy that was recognised in the tournament. The victory restored the lost faith among the fans and Dhoni saw an exponential rise in his career graph and fan base after the tournament.

He then went on to become the ODI Captain of the Indian team for a seven match series against Australia. Australia won the series (4-2). 

In January 2008, Dhoni was picked by Chennai Super Kings as their captain for the first season of the Indian Premier League. Chennai Super Kings finished as the runners-up that season.

In March 2008, the Indian team won the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia for the first time under his leadership. 

Dhoni got the full time test captaincy in the final test against Australia in November 2009 after Anil Kumble announced his retirement. 

Dhoni had a terrific performace in ODIs in 2009 and he moved to the top of the rankings once again.

Dhoni led CSK to the first IPL victory in the year 2010.

India also won the Asia Cup in 2010 under his leadership.



WORLD CUP 2011

After the unforgettable exit from the World Cup 2007 and a victory in the T20 World Cup the same year, captain MS Dhoni and the Indian team were eyeing the World Cup 2011 that was to be held in the sub-continent.

India had a terrific performance throughout the tournament. After finishing 2nd in the league table, India went on to win the quarter-final and the semi-final against Australia and Pakistan respectively. Sachin Tendulkar had a promising tournament with the bat and Yuvraj Singh shone with both the bat and the ball. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina had decent outings with the bat. Among the bowlers, Zaheer Khan emerged as the wicket taker for the team. Spinners like Harbhajan and Ashwin also played their part beautifully. However, Dhoni had an average tournament with the bat before reaching the final.

It was the final against Sri Lanka, when both Sehwag and Sachin got out early chasing a target of 275. Gambhir and Kohli did not let the ship sink and carried on till the middle overs. Virat Kohli got out in the 22nd over and Dhoni promoted himself up the order. Everyone was surprised to see him ahead of Yuvraj Singh but he seemed quite confident. He played a brilliant knock along with Gambhir and took India close to victory, Gambhir got out scoring crucial 97 runs and then it was all about Dhoni toying with the Sri Lankan bowlers. He clinched the victory by hitting a big six over the long on. His knock of 91* runs got him the Man of the Match award, Yuvraj Singh was awarded the Man of the Series and the Indian team won the World Cup after 28 years.

IPL 2011

Chennai Super Kings retained the IPL trophy in 2011 by beating Royal Challangers Bangalore in the final.

SPECULATIONS OVER CAPTAINCY

The Indian team had a disastrous overseas season in 2011. They lost 4-0 against both England and Australia in tests. Questions were raised on Dhoni's captaincy and a few selectors wanted him to be dropped as captain. The selectors didn't have any proper plan regarding the transfer of captaincy and had to stick with Dhoni under the direction of the then BCCI president.

TEAM TRANSITION

After Sachin's retirement from ODIs, the team had a big spot to be filled. Sehwag, Gambhir, Hurbhajan and Zaheer Khan lost form gradually and the Indian team saw a big transition around 2012/2013. It was Virat Kohli who took the charge of batting. Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan were tried in the opening slots. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Mohammad Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were trusted as frontline bowlers.

BORDER-GAVASKAR TROPHY 2013

India whitewashed Australia in the Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2013. Shikhar Dhawan, Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin were among the top performers. Dhoni scored a massive 224 in the first match which became his first and only double hundred in international cricket.

ICC CHAMPIONS TROPHY 2013

The Indian Team went to the Champions Trophy in England with a new team consisting of many players who were setting foot on the English pitches for the first time. But, the Indian team performed very well throughout the tournament and were crowned as the champions. Dhoni became the only captain to win all the ICC tournaments with this massive victory. His captaincy was exceptional throughout the tournament.

RETIREMENT FROM TEST CRICKET

Dhoni won a lot of tests in India as Captain but had a poor record in the overseas tests. His bowlers failed to take 10 wickets and no batsman consistently performed throughout a series. His captaincy was questioned repeatedly and he felt that it was the best time for him to retire from test cricket after he saw Virat Kohli handling the team nicely. He retired from tests in December 2014 in the midst of the tour to Australia and Virat Kohli took over the test team from then.
Dhoni continued captaining the ODI and T20 teams.

WORLD CUP 2015

India never looked well settled as a team before the World Cup as they failed to perform in almost every other ODI match. However they had a brilliant tournament before losing against Australia in the semis. It was Dhoni's third world cup as a player and 2nd as the skipper.

FIXING ISSUE IN IPL

In 2013, one of the team management employees of CSK was found to have a connection with a bookie. Moreover, three players from Rajasthan Royals were alleged in spot fixing. Both CSK and RR were suspended for two years after the 8th season of IPL in 2015.
Dhoni played for Rising Pune Supergiants in 2016 and 2017.



ASIA CUP AND T20 WORLD CUP

The Asia Cup in 2016 was held in Bangladesh and was played in T20 format. The Indian team won the Asia cup for the 2nd time under Dhoni’s leadership.

They also performed well in the T20 World Cup held that year in India but lost to West Indies in the semis.

RETIREMENT FROM CAPTAINCY

Dhoni stepped down as captain in January 2017 after achieving almost everything in the limited overs format of the sport. Be it world cup, T20 world cup or champions trophy, the team performed well in almost every edition under him. Virat Kohli was made the captain and it was the time for Dhoni to enjoy his days as a player.

Dhoni remained an indispensable player of Kohli's team with his crucial innings, strategic inputs and exceptional wicket keeping. He also became a mentor to the youngsters who found their way to the team.

He played the Champions Trophy 2017 and the World Cup 2019 under Kohli's leadership.



RETURN OF CSK IN IPL

Chennai Super Kings returned to IPL in 2018. There were many new additions to the team while the core remained the same. Dhoni led the team once again to victory with Shane Watson and Ambati Rayudu being the top performers for the team. Dhoni himself scored more than 400 runs in the season. Lungi Ngidi, Deepak Chahar and Imran Tahir were promising throughout the season.



AWARDS

Apart from various ICC awards, MS Dhoni was awarded the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2007. He got the 4th highest and 3rd highest civilian awards in India i.e. Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan in 2009 and 2018 respectively.

WORLD CUP 2019

There were many talks regarding Dhoni's participation in that edition of the world cup as he wasn't at his best with the bat within one year or so. But his performance in the ODI series against Australia in January 2019 got him the Man of the Series award and every uncertainty around his spot was put to an end.
Dhoni had a few good knocks in the world cup including the fighting 50 in the semifinal. India lost the semifinal against New Zealand and after that Dhoni made him unavailable for selection in the team.
That match ultimately became his last match in International Cricket as he announced his retirement on 15th August, 2020.

Video Editor : The Muse

Cricketers like Dhoni come once in a generation. His selflessness and dedication are commendable. His journey is not new to anyone of us. We have lived through his illustrious career. We know his highs and lows, we have supported him throughout. 
MS Dhoni will still be playing for CSK in IPL. He will be next seen on 19th September leading the team against Mumbai Indians.





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