Acing between the Runouts!

One another Indian Cricket fairy tale was scripted. The beginning of this tale was held at Chittagong on December 23, 2004. India was playing an ODI series against Bangladesh and it was the first match of the series and starting of an era too.

A young man from Ranchi made his debut for India. In this match, the youngster got runout on the first ball and India managed to get merely 245 runs courtesy to Mohammad Kaif’s 111 balls 80. India won that match by 11 runs and the debutant came under the radar from his first match only. This newcomer was Mahender Singh Dhoni who had long silky hair. He had an elegant batting style and he was known for his long six-hitting skills in domestic circuit but the aggressive batter had a weak link behind the stumps in his initials days. Initially, the Ranchi lad was very much criticized. Sometimes for his model-like appearance or for his carefree batting and stumping style.

A few months later in a match in 2005, Saurav Ganguly then the Indian captain promoted the batter to one down spot in an ODI against Pakistan. Dhoni scored a delightful 148 runs inning. After that, there was no looking back for MS Dhoni as a batsman. In 2006, when India toured Pakistan MSD earned his name and fame. He scored his first test century in Faisalabad against the bowling lineup comprised of Akhtar, Asif, and Razzaq. In his 148 runs innings, he hit a hook shot to Shoaib Akhtar for six runs. In the ODI leg of this tour, Dhoni with Yuvraj Singh chased every possible score. Dhoni was a renowned name but the better for MSD was still to come.

After the early exit for the Indian Cricket Team in the World Cup 2007 which was held in the West Indies. Senior players like Sachin, Sourav, Anil, and Rahul opted out of the WT20. The young Indian team was led by MS Dhoni. A new avatar of MSD was seen during the tournament. He was the captain cool who was known for his instinctive decisions. India won the tournament and later Dhoni was appointed as the captain for all the formats.

Dhoni was the skipper when India became the Number 1 test side for the first time. Under his captaincy, India won the ODI World Cup after 28 years. In 2013, India won the Champions trophy. Dhoni became the first and is still the only captain who has all the three ICC trophies.

Apart from being India’s most successful captain. Dhoni’s brilliance has made Chennai Super Kings win the IPL title thrice and the Champions League twice.

Every Indian former or current player is a fan of MSD’s genius. Dhoni is the one who polished and backed talents like Virat, Rohit, Raina, Ashwin, Jadeja, Shami, and many others.

With so much to cherish, the former Indian captain also had his fair share of controversies too. In his 2015, his IPL franchise CSK was banned for 2 years. He had allegations on him for match-fixing. He played the later 2 years for Pune Supergiants. In 2016 he led the side and in 2017 he was removed from the captaincy. It was an insult for a player of caliber like Dhoni. In the last few years, the finisher in Dhoni was lost. He could not finish the games as he would do earlier. Many people also said that the captain cool has lost his Midas touch.

Semifinal of the ICC WC 2019 was the example of Dhoni’s lost magic. The Dhoni we all knew would finish any match from any possible condition. The semifinal against New Zealand was not a hard task for MSD. India needed 25 in 10 balls and Dhoni on strike. Generally, in such a situation, the bowler is the one under pressure but this time, it was the opposite. Dhoni was short of the crease and was given run out. Indian lost the match by 11 runs and Dhoni didn’t play for India after the semifinal. There are rumors which state that MS has played his match for India.

If it is true then the fairy tale of the young Ranchi boy ended in a similar fashion as it began.

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37 Years of Glory!