**** MS DHONI ****. Review on Mahendra Singh Dhoni

MS Dhoni made his debut for Jharkhand in the 1999-2000 season as an eighteen year old. He started off his career with modest performances at the local level. He was noticed by the national team selectors in 2004 after his performances in first class tournaments such as the Deodhar Trophy and the Duleep Trophy. Dhoni was selected to represent India'A' on a tour of Kenya and his performances were good enough to win him selection in the Indian national team, making his one-day international debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong in December of that year.

After scoring his brilliant 183 not out against Sri Lanka in 2005.(The vacancy was created by Rahul Dravid's resignation. World Cup years always bring their crop of captaincy changes) Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a huge step toward one of the biggest jobs in world cricket. When he was named captain of India for its series of one-day matches against Australia and Pakistan, to be played over the next two months. Dhoni has had a dream start to his captaincy, what with winning the T20 world cup for india in south africa in 2007.When the victorious T20 world cup winning team returned to india, they were given a open-top bus drive through the city of mumbai.

And on the last day of Ganguly’s farewell Test match, Dhoni did one of the most surprising and endearing moment in cricket. With the match heading towards a draw, and India having all but won the series against the Aussies, Dhoni the captain, decided to pay tribute to Ganguly: a great servant of Indian cricket but also the captain under whom Dhoni made his debut. He asked Ganguly to captain the team for one last time. Ganguly did so for a couple of overs. And then tossed the ball back to Dhoni. To me that was the epitome of a reactive leader’s guts and values.Great leaders are reactive. And they empathize. And they win the hearts.Dhoni had clearly paid the finest honour for Ganguly with this gesture.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni win the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award & he is the second cricketer to get the highest honor for any sportsperson in the country in 2007, following Sachin Tendulkar, who won it in 1997-98. 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 tail-ender 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 inaugural World Twenty20 in his first assignment as skipper. The alternative to Dhoni is believed to be Sachin Tendulkar, India's greatest contemporary cricketing hero, who was only moderately successful when he captained the team in 25 tests from 1996 to 2002. Dhoni's ferocious middle-order hitting has given him a high media profile and made him a highly effective one-day player. At one time, he was rated the best one-day international batsman in the world.

Dhoni's best performance for India thus far was an unbeaten score of 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31 October 2005, equalling the second best score by an Indian in ODIs. It was also the highest innings recorded by a wicket-keeper, and the highest number of sixes in an innings for a wicketkeeper. He also broke Saeed Anwar's record of most runs scored off boundaries by scoring a total of 120 runs off 4s and 6s eclipsing the previous record of 118. This has broken the record for the highest individual score for a team batting second. This has also established the new Indian record of number of sixes in a match, overtaking previous record holders, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly(both hit seven 6's in a match). Earlier, in 2005 he scored 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam, in his fifth one-day international; the score came off only 123 deliveries. And he keep his place in the Indian team.He had a(ODI) batting strike rate of more than 100 & he remains the only batsman with the unique double of a 50+ average scored at more than a run a ball. Currently, Dhoni has one of the highest strike rates in the world(103.00 runs per hundred balls). With 44 sixes in 38 ODI innings, Dhoni has hit more sixes than he's played international matches. Following his good one-day form against Sri Lanka, he ousted Dinesh Karthik. He made his maiden Test century against Pakistan in the 2nd Test at Faisalabad, reaching the landmark in just 93 balls.

Statistics Full name Mahendra Singh Dhoni Born July 7, 1981, Ranchi, Batting style Right-hand bat Fielding Position Wicketkeeper

Matches Innings Runs NO Avg. SR 100's 50's

Test 37 59 1962 7 37.73 61.93 1 16

ODI138 124 4567 33 50.19 90.89 4 31

T20 18 17 301 4 23.15 102.03 0 0