“Thanks a lot for ur love and support throughout. From 19:29 hrs consider me as Retired,” wrote Mahender Singh Dhoni on his Instagram handle on the evening of 15th August, 2020 awestruck everyone in the nation.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the captain cool of Indian Cricket Team, announced his retirement from international cricket in his own style filled with calmness and Bollywood song ‘Mai pal do pal.’
M.S.Dhoni, aka Mahi, has played 350 ODI, scoring 10,773 runs with a healthy average of 50.57 with 10 hundreds and 73 half-centuries. His highest score being 183 in OD Is; while in the field of International Cricket, he has scored 1,617 runs at an average of 37.60.
After this massive score coverage and a successful cricket journey, one query in everybody’s mind — Will M.S. Dhoni do a low-profile exit from international cricket, like the one he did with Tests?
Dhoni’s Legacy
Every generation has its own moments to cherish, and for cricket lovers, Mahi is one of the legends who has created thousands of these kinds of moments to remember forever. In the 1980s for Cricket lovers, it was all about Kapil Dev and his pictures holding the 1983 World Cup at Lord’s. Then, after years of journey, came another stalwart, the six off Nuwan Kulasekara at a raucous Wankhede Stadium in the night of Month April in the year 2011 as MS Dhoni seized the World Cup.
Dhoni, the wicket-keeper– as skipper was always aware of the situation on the field, and as a batsman, he knocked down all the fields with his helicopter shots.
MS Dhoni shocked everyone when he announced his retirement from Tests in the middle of a series in Australia and again when he decided to hand over the captaincy to Virat Kohli.
Mahi Cricket Journey From ‘MAHI’ maar raha hai to the ‘CAPTAIN COOL’
In the year 2004, Dhoni made his international debut against Bangladesh at the Chittagong ODI. In the very next year, he was promoted up the order to accelerate scoring on the field. Dhoni smashed an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls and recorded the highest individual score in ODI cricket in the second innings.
The match and the knock that turned everything around.
Batting at No.3, MS Dhoni blasted 148 off 123 balls and became only the second Indian wicket-keeper to score an ODI ton. How many of you remember the knock?#ThankYouMSDhoni pic.twitter.com/BhM87vYphp
— BCCI (@BCCI) August 16, 2020
Mahendra Singh Dhoni – one of the greats.#DhoniRetires pic.twitter.com/qOiWqNQWKW
— ICC (@ICC) August 16, 2020
Known for his style of wicket-keeping with the coolness, Dhoni has inflicted 444 dismissals in ODIs and 91 in Twenty-20 internationals.
In the year 2007, Mahi became captain of the Indian squad for the inaugural ICC World Twenty-20 in South Africa, and captain cool led the young Indian team to win the cup against Pakistan in the finals. He took the risk of selecting an inexperienced pacer, Joginder Sharma, instead of Harbhajan Singh to bowl the last over that proved to be a favorable decision.
In June 2013, Dhoni-led the Indian Cricket team to win the ICC Champions Trophy, defeating the cricket master England by five runs in the final and added one more success in his name by becoming the first captain to win all three ICC trophies.
There's no limit to the creativity of some of the tributes to MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina 👏 #DhoniRetires pic.twitter.com/magja8qVU5
— ICC (@ICC) August 17, 2020
The Indian Territorial Army honored MS Dhoni in the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in November 2011. His last international match in which he scored 50 runs, while India lost the match against New Zealand in the World Cup semi-final at Manchester in 2019.
Indian head coach Ravi Shastri said Dhoni’s professionalism stood out. “Massive boots to fill. It’s been a privilege and honor to be part of the dressing room and seeing you as a thoroughbred professional at work. Salute one of India’s greatest cricketers. Second to none. Enjoy. God Bless,” he wrote.
