MS Dhoni Stands Tall Among The Greatest Limited Overs Skippers Of All Time With The ICC Treble In His KittyMS Dhoni Stands Tall Among The Greatest Limited Overs Skippers Of All Time With The ICC Treble In His Kitty

Dhoni went onto break most of the captaincy records by an Indian skipper in ODIs, registering the most wins by Indian skipper in limited overs cricket (110) and more importantly becoming the only skipper in world cricket to have all the three major ICC tournaments in his kitty.

Photo: AFP

It certainly was an end of an era in both Indian and world cricket on Saturday as one of India's most successful white ball cricket skipper and wicket-keeper batsman bid farewell to the sport by announcing his retirement from all forms of the game.

Cricket is a religion in the Indian sub continent and cricketers are demigods..The sheer passion, exuberance and joy with which the die hard affinadios popularly known as the Blue Billion Brigade cherish each major personal landmark or a significant team victory is something which is unparalleled and draws the same level of intensity as what is witnessed with soccer fans of major European national teams or South American football powerhouses..

Cricketing results are often the barometer to gauge the happiness index of this cricket crazy nation. Indian cricket has been blessed to have some of the very best with the willow and the red cherry who did yeoman service to the nation and etched their names as the legends of the sport.

From the 'Little Master' Sunil Gavaskar to the 'Master Blaster' Sachin Tendulkar, from Kapil Dev to Virat 'King' Kohli, we had world class players of their respective eras who commanded the respect and adulation of the world cricketing fraternity. Indian cricket was also fortunate to be led by inspirational skippers and great leaders who infused a sense of self belief that they could compete and win with the best in the world. From Kapil Dev's charismatic exploits which propelled India to their maiden World Cup win in 1983 to Sourav Ganguly taking the team to the finals of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa, India's ODI team had come a long distance since its maiden sojourn way back in 1974.

When Sourav Ganguly was fading away from the international scene and bid adieu to international cricket, India looked upon another captain who could steady the ship and take the team to loftier heights in one day cricket... Indian cricket had quite a few contenders who were experienced enough and hence commanded the right to take on the mantleship of leading the 'Men in Blue'..Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh were all there in the mix of things but the think tank was looking at someone who could serve as an inspirational leader and astute skipper to lead a galaxy of stalwarts in Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan Harbhajan Singh among many..

Out of nowhere a highly spirited young lad from Jharkhand led a relatively young and inexperienced team to their maiden title win at the ICC 2007 T20 World Cup, beating arch rivals Pakistan in a pulsating final. The world took notice of someone special who had stunned the critics with his unorthodox batting and brilliant leadership skills. There was a sense of purpose with every move he planned and every strategy he crafted. He rarely lost his cool and brought out his best to the fore when the stakes were high. MS Dhoni had arrived for sure and made his first major impression as a skipper who was destined to achieve greater heights. Dhoni was quite the opposite to his predecessor Ganguly in terms of leadership and marshalling his resources. While 'Dada' was very expressive, animated and lively on the field, there was a sense of calmness and composure to Dhoni's captaincy.Hence from 'Captain Courageous',  India began to get led by Captain 'Cool'. A bit understated in his demeanour but a great reader of the game, Dhoni's super active cricket acumen helped him to outfox the opponents on the field.The one thing which both Ganguly and Dhoni had in common was the ability to take some bold decisions and an eye to spot talented individuals. If Ganguly mentored and groomed the likes of Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan and Mohammad Kaif; Dhoni backed the likes of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Suresh Raina who went onto become highly successful cricketers under his aegis in white ball cricket for India. The results were there to show and soon India won more ODI finals than we lost under previous skippers.. India's track record in multi-nation tournaments improved significantly under Dhoni as the sub continent tigers won the CB series beating Australia in their backyard in 2008, won the Compaq Cup beating Sri Lanka in 2009 and lifted the Asia Cup in both 2010 and 2016 . Dhoni had proved his pedigree as a world class skipper and was the sought after choice to lead the 'Men in Blue' at the 2011 World Cup at home. Under Dhoni's captaincy, India had an amazing run in the group stages largely on the back of Yuvraj Singh's all round exploits and deservingly made it to finals of the World Cup against sub continent rivals Sri Lanka at Mumbai.

As the famous saying goes, the best reserve their for the biggest moment and Dhoni proved that age old saying every bit. Promoting himself up the order than the seasoned Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni marshalled India's chase at Wankhede when the chips were a bit down and led them to their second World Cup title after a long gap of 28 years. The icing on the cake was cracking six off medium pacer Nuwan Kulasekara's bowl to clinch the finale and the cup. It will remain frozen in the minds of the Blue Brigade till eternity. With two major ICC titles under his kitty, Dhoni had built his reputation as one of the finest skippers in ODI cricket and now the only title which was left to be won was the ICC Champions Trophy. Under Dhoni's captaincy, India won their third major ICC title beating England in the finals of the 2013 Champions Trophy, riding high on the batting exploits of openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. Dhoni went onto break most of the captaincy records by an Indian skipper in ODIs, registering the most wins by Indian skipper in limited overs cricket (110) and more importantly becoming the only skipper in world cricket to have all the three major ICC tournaments in his kitty.

Such were his superlative captaincy exploits in white ball cricket that his fairly successful run as skipper in Test cricket gets overshadowed. It is notable that under Dhoni, India went onto become the number one team in Test cricket for the very first time. In a nutshell, Mahendra Dhoni goes down as arguably India's finest skippers in ODI cricket.

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