I have stopped writing blogs for almost past 6 months and the recent incidents surrounding M S Dhoni and Indian cricket team has made me to write this blog. I cannot list all his achievements. But I can list out few stints in this writing.
Earlier Days as a Finisher:
Right from the match M S Dhoni started playing international cricket, he has showed that he can make the team to win single handedly. On Novemeber 3rd 2005, M S Dhoni proved his capability of chasing down huge targets with a brutal assault of 183 in 145 balls against Srilanka, When India successfully chased down 303 in just 46.1 overs. He was being promoted up the order at No:3 and he made the most of it.
Earlier Days as a Finisher:
Right from the match M S Dhoni started playing international cricket, he has showed that he can make the team to win single handedly. On Novemeber 3rd 2005, M S Dhoni proved his capability of chasing down huge targets with a brutal assault of 183 in 145 balls against Srilanka, When India successfully chased down 303 in just 46.1 overs. He was being promoted up the order at No:3 and he made the most of it.
In the very next match against the same opposition, he had to play a calm and composed innings of 45 off 43 balls when the team was suffering at 180/6 when the team was chasing a target of 262. In this match he came in at No:6 and guided the team to win the match. Even in his early days, he proved himself as an able finisher in his earlier days of cricket.
Earlier days as Captain:
MS Dhoni was handed the captaincy for the maiden world T20 venture in 2007. His creative captaincy was seen during the match between India and Pakistan when he made Robin Uthappa, Virendar Sehwag and Harbhajan Singh to bowl the bowl out and hit the stumps straight on target when the leading bowlers of Pakistan - Yasir Arafat, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi didnt hit the stumps.
His captainship brilliance was shown when he made Rohit Sharma to make his debut appearance as a replacement of Yuvraj Singh against South Africa. It proved to be a master stroke as Rohit Sharma took the game away from South Africa. In the final against pakistan, he backed his bowler mohit sharma to come and bowl, which proved to be the best of all his decisions till date. India won the match against Pakistan by 5 runs and won the Maiden T20 tournament. This was a big win for Team India, As they were disqulified after the league stage in World cup 2007 earlier.
The Leader Arrives....
Dhoni was handed with the full time ODI captaincy when Rahul Dravid quit the ODI captaincy. Though India lost its first series under his captaincy to Australia, they hit back strongly with a 6-1 win against pakistan. The next series was a real test for M S Dhoni's captaincy as they had to travel to Australia. The triseries involved India, Australia and Srilanka. In the 8th Match between India and Srilanka, Dhoni scored a vital 50 [Not out] off 68 balls without hitting a single boundary leading the team to chase down 238. They way he effectively handled Praveen Kumar in that series was praised by many cricketting experts as India went on to win a ODI series in Australia for the first ever time.
After Anil kumble retired from test cricket, M S Dhoni was handed the test captainship on November 6th 2008. India won the Final Test match against Australia and won the series. It was the final game for Sourav Ganguly. M S Dhoni gave a great send off to Sourav Ganguly by handing over the captainship to Sourav Ganguly in the final moments of the match. The birth of MSDian era started that particular day as MSD was the captain of Team India in all three formats.
From then, India had some memorable days. India toured to New Zealand and won the Test Match and ODI series in 2009. After the test series win against Sri Lanka, India claimed No:1 spot in test series for the first ever time. A series of victories came against some bigger opponents like South Africa, Australia etc., when they visited India in 2010.
The World cup:
The biggest test for Dhoni's test came in the form of World Cup 2011. India had a combination of younger and experienced players this season. Players like Piyush Chawla,
Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Suresh Raina got to play their first ever world cup. This turned out to be a great one as India won the world cup after 28 years. Dhoni was a sensation and was the headlines in almost all the newspapers.
The trouble begins...
The off season for Team India and M S Dhoni Started in July 2011, when they were whitewashed by England in England. The whitewash was continued in Autralia too in the same year. India lost 8 straight tests in foreign soil. Several Questions were raised against his captaincy. When England travelled back to India in 2012, India lost the Test Series to England, Which added more fuel to the fire. The critics were hardly hitting at M S Dhoni in a matter of just a year. Those who praised MSD for his amazing captaincy just an year ago for the world cup victory were pressurizing MSD like anything. Later in the same year, India lost to a ODI series against Pakistan which was in India. But Dhoni's batting was heavily praised. Especially the century at chepauk in the First ODI stands out to be one of his best innings till now when he scored 113 out of 125 balls. India were 29/5 at one stage and Dhoni's innings made India to acheive a decent score.
Defeat is not permanent to any team. 2013 proved to be a great year for team India. India started the year with a ODI series win against England. India Whitewashed Australia in a 4 match test series. In July 2013, India travelled to England to play ICC Champions trophy. It was a very younger team, but the magic captaincy of M S Dhoni led India to win the ICC Champions trophy 2013. Dhoni was again in the headlines. He was lauded for the way he used up the All-Rounder Ravindra Jadeja. India went on to win a Tri-series in West Indies and ODI series against Australia in India, later that year. MSD play a major part in winning those series.
Indian defeat in foreign soil again started with some loses in South Africa in 2013 and New zealand and England in 2014. India didnt achieve a single victory in 2015 when they travelled to Australia. MSD was heavily criticized again.
World Cup 2015 and Bangladesh tour
After a poor season, India went on to play the world cup with zero expectations. But they played well and reached the semis where they lost to Australia. The very next series they lost their series agaist Bangladesh. This time, the controversy got so much worser that Dhoni himslef admitted that he is ready to quit the captaincy.
Mad Critics:
Interview by Dhoni and Kohli's coaches suggested that there is some rift in the dressing room. Most of the players who have been currently playing in the team have made their debut under the captaincy of M S Dhoni. Few critics have panned about the chance given to Ravindra Jadeja. If you take a look few years back, Rohit Sharma was in the same boat and after he got some constant chances, he proved his worth. Just because Ravindra Jadeja plays for chennai super kings, The critics are hitting hard at M S Dhoni. Where have they been when chances where given to Rohit Sharma? The same was the case with Murali Vijay too previously. When he was in Chennai Super Kings, he was being questioned hardly, but after he was not retained in Chennai Super Kings, the talks stopped about it. Now Rohit Sharma and murali vijay play a vital role in Indian cricket. A true captain is someone who backs his players in their difficult situations and make them emerge as fine players. M S Dhoni has done exactly that.
Few critics still hit pointlessly say that chances are given based on Chennai Super Kings. Of course Ravindra Jadeja might have been facing a dip in his form. All others Suresh Raina, Ravichandran Ashwin and Mohit Sharma have proved their worth except a few matches. Dhoni was being heavily criticized for his decision to drop Rahane in the second ODI against Bangladesh. The same critics lauded Dhoni when Rahane was promoted up the order in the match against South Africa in world cup 2015.
When great players like Gavaskar, Sourav Ganguly etc., back M S Dhoni, who are these critics to blame him? Are they more qualified cricketers more than them? Before criticizing someone they should think about his achievements. He has taken India to a great level which no other Indian captain has never done. Few of his records are yet to be broken by many international captains which includes highest individual score by a wicket keeper captain in test matches and winning all the ICC trophies.
He has proved himself to be a fearless and most successful Indian captain. But the recent happenings have made this fearless man to admit, "I will quit captaincy, If I am the sole reason for all bad things happening to Team India". It should be noted that when Rahul Dravid quit the captaincy in 2007, No other senior players came forward to accept the captaincy which includes Sachin Tendulkar too. And now, the critics have nicely rewarded MSD for shouldering the team for 8 years with their cruel words. Definetely you guys have achieved what you needed.
When every country is celebrating M S Dhoni, he has haters in India alone just because they think he is the sole reason for yuvraj Singh and few other player's exclusion. They have even failed to click in the recent IPL series, but still few of their fans are hitting hard at him. Yuvraj was given a chance in Australia series and World T20 which he didn't capitalize. It should be noted that when the critics hit hard at Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni backed yuvi in all the press conferences. Just because of few loses, his achievements will not fade away.
A true fan is someone who backs his hero even during their bad times. I am one die hard fan of MSD and this article is a tribute to this legendary captain.
