Former India captain MS Dhoni hasn’t played a game ever since the 2019 World Cup semi-final against New Zealand. He was supposed to make his comeback for Chennai Super Kings in this year’s IPL but it has been postponed indefinitely. Despite the uncertainty, fans all over the world are eagerly waiting for their beloved captain’s return to competitive cricket.
Dhoni was first appointed as captain during the 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa. The Ranchi born furthermore captained India for 10 years. In his 10 years term as India’s captain, India won the 2007 World T20, 2011 World Cup, 2013 Champions trophy and 2010, 2016 Asia cup. Apart from guiding India to several victories, Dhoni was known for maintaining his calm in crunch moments.
We at Cricfit will take a look at the five best memories of MS Dhoni as captain of India:
1. Wanting Virat to score the winning runs in the 2014 T20 WC semi-final
Dhoni finishes off in style is what we tend to hear most of the times. But on the eve of the semi-final between India and South Africa, Dhoni had something else in his mind. India just required one run to win in the chase, he could’ve easily finished the match by going for a big hit but the captain wanted his companion Virat Kohli to hit the winning runs.
He blocked the final delivery of the 19th over, giving Kohli the opportunity to finish off the game. As Dhoni blocked the delivery, both Kohli and Dhoni gave each other a quiet smile.
In the next over as Dale Steyn ran into bowl, without wasting any more time Kohli played a wild flick between mid-wicket and mid-on, the ball racing over to the boundary for four. This boundary helped India qualify for the final of the 2014 World T20. This is one of the best memories of MS Dhoni as the captain of India.
2. Asking Sourav Ganguly to captain the final moments of his last Test
Everyone is aware of that fact that Sourav Ganguly is one of the few people who backed Dhoni as the captain. If there was anyone who trusted the wicketkeeper with such a huge responsibility, it was Ganguly.
After comprehensively defeating Australia in the 2008 Border-Gavaskar on home soil during the final few overs of the final session of the final Test, Dhoni walked up to Ganguly and asked him to captain the final few moments of his last test.
Dada took over the captaincy and in no time he was seen marshalling his fielders just like during his captaincy days.
“I didn’t expect MS to ask me to captain the side for five overs. I was already switched off, so he woke me up and I didn’t know what was happening during the first six-seven balls,” said Sourav Ganguly.
3. Sharing the Celkon Mobile Cup 2013 trophy with Virat Kohli
The Celkon Mobile Cup is remembered for the fierce brutal batting of MS Dhoni in the last over of the final. Sri Lanka, who were racing towards victory had to defend just 15 runs in the final over. The only obstacle between Sri Lanka and victory was the Indian captain. As Eranga came out to bowl the final over, it took Dhoni just 3 balls to finish the match off in a significant style.
Many people don’t really know that it was under Virat Kohli’s leadership India made it to the final alone. Notably, Dhoni who was injured for the majority part of the tournament with a hamstring injury made a comeback in the final of the tri-series.
After the brutal finish in the final, during the post-match presentation, the captain was called to collect the trophy. As Dhoni walked up to collect the trophy, he was seen pushing Kohli ahead of him for collecting the trophy. That was Dhoni’s acknowledgement towards Kohli for leading India till the finals.
4. Letting others hold the trophy
MS Dhoni is often seen standing in the corner of every group photo. He isn’t someone who likes to be in the limelight. We saw this during the 2007 World T20 and even during 2011 World cup where Dhoni handed over the trophy to his teammates and then quietly went and stood in the corner.
Dhoni always hands the trophy over to his teammates and then celebrates from the sidelines. The sheer humility Dhoni possess is clearly seen as even during the 2013 Champions Trophy, we saw Ravinder Jadeja and Shikhar Dhawan lift the trophy and take the centre spot in the celebration.
5.Promoting himself to No.5 in the 2011 World Cup final
As we all noticed in the biopic ‘MS DHONI: The untold Story’, Dhoni wanted to bat ahead of Yuvraj Singh in the ultimate final because an off-spinner was bowling. As Virat Kohli’s wicket fell, everyone expected Yuvraj Singh to walk in as the Punjab-born was in sublime form throughout the tournament, But Dhoni was seen walking down the steps to join Gautam Gambhir.
This masterstroke proved a match-winning one as Dhoni went on to score 91 off 79 balls taking India across the target of 275 against Sri Lanka. Former India Coach Gary Kirsten once recalled how it was Dhoni’s willingness to promote himself despite not being in the best form.
“After the second wicket fell, there was a knock on the dressing room window and he was saying, “I want to go in next,” said Gary Kirsten.