History:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni or MS Dhoni (born July 7, 1981 in Ranchi, Jharkhand) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian Twenty20 and ODI team <1>. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 World Twenty20.
Dhoni is an aggressive right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. Dhoni is one of the wicket-keepers who have come through the ranks of junior and India A cricket teams to represent the national team - Parthiv Patel, Ajay Ratra and Dinesh Karthik being the others. Dhoni, referred to as ''Mahi'' by his friends, debuted in the Bihar cricket team during the 1998/99 cricket season and was selected to represent India-A for a tour to Kenya in 2004. Along with Gautam Gambhir, Dhoni made multiple centuries against the Pakistan-A team in a tri-nation series and was selected in the Indian national team later in that year.
Dhoni scored 148 against Pakistan in his fifth ODI match in 2005 - then the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183* against Sri Lanka. Dhoni''s success in the limited overs format secured him a place in the test team and coincidentally he made his maiden test century in his fifth Test match, when he scored 148 against Pakistan. Consistent performances in ODI cricket through the end of the 2005/06 season saw Dhoni ranked as the No. 1 batsman in the ICC ODI ratings briefly.
Dhoni''s form dipped through 2006 as India lost matches at the ICC Champions trophy, DLF Cup, away bilateral series against West Indies and South Africa. A return to form in the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka in early 2007 proved to be an inaccurate indicator of Dhoni''s form as India crashed out of the first round in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni was out for duck in both India''s losses. After the World Cup, Dhoni won the Man of the series award in the bilateral ODI tournament against Bangladesh. For the tour of England, Dhoni was named the ODI team vice-captain.
A powerful hitter of the ball, Dhoni has shown the maturity to restrain his aggressive nature and play a responsible innings when the situation requires. Apart from traditional shots, Dhoni has two very unorthodox but effective cricket strokes. Since his entry into the Indian cricket team, Dhoni''s aggressive batting style, success on the field, personality, and long hair have made him one of the most marketable cricketers in India.
Profile
He announced his arrival into the international arena in 2004-05 with a bang. MS Dhoni has come a long way with his swashbuckling and aggressive brand of cricket. He is a destroyer of bowling attacks and often a great finisher. If he is spectacular with the bat, he is secure with the keeping gloves. Dhoni's batting consists of shots and strokes which are anything but orthodox and conventional. His playing style reinforces that one should look at the ball and not the bowler.Born in Ranchi, 'Mahi' displayed tremendous potential of a great leader after he led india to victory in the inaugral ICC World Twenty20 in 2007. The icing on the cake was the triangular series win against Australia in Australia in 2008. The Indian wicketkeeper has modelled his game on Adam Gilchrist and his extraordinary knock of 183 runs helped him break his idol's record for the highest score by a wicketkeeper in ODI's.To a large extent Dhoni has been helped by the services of Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan. But his ability to bring out the best in youngsters, speaks volumes for his cool demeanour. He started off as an attacking cricketer who loved to dispatch the ball towards the fence. In many ways, he was India's answer to a stable wicketkeeper/batsman, and he did not disappoint.But captaincy seems to have brought out a new sense of maturity in him as he has changed his gameplay as much as he changed looks with his long, wild hair being replaced by the short crop. He now plays the role of sheet anchor that holds one end of the fort while the other batsmen make sure the ball finds the fence often.His maturity as a solid batsman was witnessed when India were 82-8 against West Indies. Dhoni and RP Singh put on a 101 run stand as the skipper shielded his tailender and made sure runs came from the other end.Another characteristic of Dhoni is that he always seems unfazed by what is happening around him. He is India's 'man with a plan'.Ever since he won the inaugral World Twenty20, in his first assignment as skipper, he has been earmarked as India's golden-boy and the country expects him to take India to the pinnacle of world cricket in all three formats of the game. Not impossible, considering he has brought the country within foreseeable distance of that target.
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Matches Innings Runs NO Avg. SR 100's 50's
Test 44 70 2502 9 41.02 61.1 4 17
ODI 166 147 5593 38 51.31 89.49 7 36
T20 25 24 441 7 25.94 112.5 0 0