MSD Mania

He is the man who has changed the landscape of Indian cricket in the past couple of years. He is the one who has re-written record books with his splendid leadership skills. The gentleman in question is none other than Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Since entering the international cricket arena as a flamboyant and stylish cricketer, Dhoni has come a long way in short time to develop the Indian team into world-beaters today.

The early stages of Mahi’s career witnessed him as a swashbuckling, long-haired poster boy whose charming demeanour took everybody by surprise. Soon, the smiling assassin got the entire nation drooling over his amazing cricketing skills as he became the long awaited answer to India’s problem of a batsman-wicketkeeper.

Hailing from the state of Jharkhand, he idolized Adam Gilchrist while growing up. And just as the Aussie great, Dhoni has flourished in one-dayers more than in the longer version of the game. The dynamic right-hander is one of the leading batsmen in ODI rankings but he is yet to prove his mettle in the Test arena.

In 37 Test matches, the 27-year old has scored only a single century and has an ordinary average. His batting technique in seaming and swinging conditions is still under question and no hundreds outside the subcontinent justify his critics. But knowing the caliber of the man, one wouldn’t bet against Dhoni to improve his Test record as his career progresses.

The turning point in Dhoni’s career came when he was handed over the Indian captaincy for the inaugural WT20 Championship in 2007. He did the impossible by leading a young Indian brigade to be crowned the maiden T20 Champions of the world. Since then, it was no looking back for the lad from Ranchi who was soon handed the ODI skipper’s job too.

Dhoni as a captain dawned a new era in Indian cricket. He has impressed one and all with his sensible, innovative and calm leadership skills. Under him, the Indian outfit has become an aggressive unit who plays dauntless cricket. He is a good man-manager who lets his players play their natural game.

As an ODI skipper, the Man with Midas touch produced the desired results as he guided his nation to series victory over Pakistan, England, maiden tri-nation competition win in Australia and first ever bilateral series triumph in Sri Lanka. After Kumble’s retirement, Dhoni was given the responsibility to lead the Test side too and he didn’t disappoint at all.

His subtle and street-smart captainship helped India claim the Border-Gavaskar trophy against Australia. And on his first ever overseas tour assignment as a skipper, he claimed the ODI as well as Test series against New Zealand. He has an incredible record as the ‘Men in Blue’ have won five out of seven Tests under him, while 31 wins out of 51 in one-day matches.

After taking up the captaincy burden, ‘Mahi’ has truly curtailed his flamboyance to a great extent and improved his efficiency as a batsman. He has magnificently handled the dual role of captain and wicket-keeper with an awesome record to back it up.

Dhoni’s temperament as a captain is commendable while he is also lucky to have experienced players like Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman in his team. He is open to suggestions from the veterans while his rapport with young stars like Sehwag, Yuvraj and Harbhajan is brilliant.

The Great Sachin Tendulkar has recently praised Dhoni’s leadership ability saying, “I'm extremely happy and delighted at the way Dhoni has conducted himself. He is a balanced guy, has a sharp brain and is pretty clear and not complicated.”

So the Dhoni era has undoubtedly began and with the T20 World Cup coming up in England, the expectations would be sky high from his fans for him to deliver the goods as a captain and a player. Let’s wait and watch if the ‘Dhoni Mania’ can continue to captivate everyone in the years to come.

Here are the glaring achievements of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a captain:

Team India went on to clinch the inaugural T20 cricket World Cup in 2007.
India managed First ever tri-series ODI victory in Australia in 2007-08 CB Series.
India beat Pakistan 3-2 in home ODI series in 2007.
India claimed their first ever bilateral ODI series win in Sri Lanka (IDEA CUP 2008).
He guided India to a commendable 2-0 series win over Australia to win back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home.
Dhoni lead India to a 1-0 Test series and 5-0 ODI series win over England in 2008.
On his first overseas tour as a skipper, Dhoni guided India to both ODI & Test series win, thus ending his nation's 41-year drought of a series win in New Zealand.