MS Dhoni, who turns 30 today, has become one of the faces of Indian cricket. He has won almost everything in International cricket including Indian fans' heart. He has indeed come a long way since he made his debut in 2004/2005 season.
INDIAN CAPTAIN, MS Dhoni who turns 30 today has done it all on the cricket field. Even if he walks out of the game today, people would never forget the way he handled the Indian team and brought laurels to the country. ICC T20 World Cup in South Africa, ICC World Cup 2011, CB Series of 2007–08 in Australia, first ODI series wins against Sri Lanka and New Zealand at their home soil, ICC ODI Player of the Year, 2008 and 2009 are some of the records, just to name a few that have helped him in achieving the tag of the Greatest Indian Captain ever. He has won laurels from experts all over the world.
He has had a wonderful career. He played his first match as an Indian wicket keeper against Bangladesh in an ODI match, and he has never looked back since then. Incidentally, he failed to score a single run in his first match. Dhoni came into the spotlight when he played great attacking knocks, and he scored 148 runs in 123 balls in just his fifth ODI match. His knocks still remains afresh in minds of young Indian fans. Just to show it was not a flash-in-the pan, he scored another brutal 183 runs off 145 balls against Sri Lanka. Yes, Dhoni had indeed announced his arrival into international cricket in an authoritative manner.After just 3 years in International cricket, the BCCI appointed him the captain of the Indian cricket team. His name was recommended by Sachin Tendulkar to the BCCI. His first major assignment was the T20 World Cup, where he surprised many pundits as he was very wise while making changes and a cool captain, who never let the pressure get to him. Thus, India won the inaugural T20 World cup under Dhoni’s captaincy.After the triumph, the Indian team has registered victories in every part of the globe where a Test match is played. They began to win Test matches and series abroad, which was very rare for an Indian side. The Indian team slowly began to become a force to reckon with, as Dhoni brought self confidence and belief in the team which was absent under other former captains. He brought a sense of togetherness in the team, which was evident when they were in the field as they were all in a joyful mood.Success began to follow Dhoni in his footsteps. He began to win awards such as Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri in the year 2009. Even the ICC appreciated his captaincy skills and made him ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams captain in 2009. He was also included in TIME magazine’s list of 100 most influential people of the world.Dhoni began to earn huge revenue from advertising, for major companies such as Reebok, Aircel, and Godrej among a list of more than 20 brands. He became a face of Indian cricket too as he began to earn more revenue from advertisements when compared to known faces in India such as Shahrukh Khan and Tendulkar.The Indian captain has reached the peak of his career, but the true test lies in staying at the top. He has to handle the team very carefully as the Indian team is undergoing a transition phase where great players like Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Zaheer Khan could retire from the game any day. The challenge lies in bringing in new players when senior pros are still there to guide the younger ones. Dhoni has always loved to take risk and experiment so he should welcome the move, as he has played a huge role in guiding young players like Kohli, Raina, Ishant, and Rohit Sharma, etc. The results are for everyone to see.He also has to pass on some tips to his young team mates who would captain the Indian side in the future. He should be wise in spotting the best player who is capable of handling the captaincy baton when he decides to pass on. But, will his successor be able to replicate his feats? Only time will tell.
