Former captain of the Indian cricket team who is often called ‘Captain Cool’ for his ability to maintain his calm even under pressure, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, celebrates his 43rd birthday today on July 7. While Dhoni announced his retirement from all forms of cricket on August 15, 2020 but the legacy of wicketkeeper-batter remains studded in the history of cricket.
From ticket to trophy collector
Under his captaincy, India became world champion thrice, firstly in 2007, 2011 then again in 2013 besides the team being the leader in test ranking for straight 18 months since December 2009. He led the ICC T20 World Cup 2007, ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and ICC Champions Trophy 2013 as skipper.
What’s more interesting is that unlike other players he debuted in 2004 at the age 23 years where the average age to debut is 17 or 18, after leaving his ticket collector job. Soon after his debut, he was entitled as ODI captain in 2007 and for all formats in 2008.
In his lengthy career, Dhoni played in 90 matches at an average run of 38.09 while accumulating 4,876 runs. His highest score was 224 and he scored six centuries and 33 half-centuries. He is the 14th-highest scorer for India in Tests.
Dhoni captained India in 60 Test matches, in which they triumphed in 27, suffered defeats in 18, and drew 15. He is among India’s most successful skippers of all time, with a victory percentage of 45. In the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, he is the only Indian captain to have completely destroyed Australia in the 2010–11 and 2012–13 series.
In addition to this, he captained the team in 72 T20 Internationals, winning 41, losing 28, drawing a tie while two matches failed to bring a result, marking 56.9 win per cent.
Thala for a reason!
‘Captain Cool’ became ‘Thala’ when he joined the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) Chennai Super Kings (CSK) team. ‘Thala’ in Tamil means leader. In IPL, he played 98 matches with an average run rate of 37.60, with a total score of 1,617 runs. He has two half-centuries and a best score of 56 runs.
Not only this, but he even made CSK one of the teams to have the most number of IPL trophies. Under his leadership, CSK won the IPL five times, sharing the record with Mumbai Indians.
