This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2011)

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (May 2011)

Mohinder Amarnath Bhardwaj  pronunciation (help·info) (born 24 September 1950) is a former Indian cricketer (1969–1989) and current cricket analyst. He is commonly known as "Jimmy". He is the son of Lala Amarnath, the first post-independence captain of India. His brother Surinder Amarnath was a Test player. His brother Rajinder Amarnath is a former first class cricket and current cricket coach.

Mohinder made his debut against Australia at Chennai in December 1969. Mohinder was seen, in the latter part of his career, as the finest Indian batsman against express pace. Both Imran Khan and Malcolm Marshall have praised his batsmanship, courage and ability to endure and master pain. In 1982-83 Mohinder played 11 Test matches against Pakistan (5) and the West Indies (6) and scored over 1000 runs in the two series.

In his "Idols", Sunil Gavaskar described Mohinder Amarnath as the finest batsman in the world.

He made his first test century at Perth at the WACA (the fastest and bounciest wicket in the world) batting against Jeff Thomson at his fastest. He followed this test century with another 10 against top class fast bowling.

Imran Khan regarded Mohinder so highly that in his "All Round View" he went on record to say that in the 1982-83 season, Mohinder was quite simply the best batsman in the world. Imran further went on to state that Mohinder should have played non-stop for India right from his debut in 1969 to the time he retired. Mohinder never had a steady place in the Indian test side. Others would play much worse than he did and never be dropped.

Mohinder is known as the come back man of Indian cricket. During his two decades at the top, he was dropped from the Indian side on several occasions and every time he fought his way back with sterling performances. After his debut series he had to wait until 1975 to make it into the team.

Mohinder made his debut in 1969 as a quick-bowling all rounder but at his peak, he was a top order batsman who always played at No. 3 for India. He was also handy with the ball, swinging and cutting the ball with great skill and control.

Mohinder Amarnath played 69 Tests scoring 4,378 runs at an batting average of 42.50, with 11 hundreds and 24 fifties, and claimed 32 wickets at a bowling average of 55.68 apiece. In 85 One Day Internationals, he scored 1,924 runs at an average of 30.53 and a highest score of 102 n.o. and claimed 46 wickets at 42.84 apiece. Mohinder Amarnath is also the one and only Indian who has been dismissed on handling the ball. He was dismissed on 9 February 1986 also making him the first one to be dismissed for handling the ball in One-Day Internationals. He is also the only Indian to be dismissed for obstructing the field in One-Day Internationals.

1983 World Cup Performance[link]

Mohinder Amarnath is known for his legendary performance in the 1983 Cricket World Cup. He was awarded "Man of the Match" in the finals and semi-finals, having led India to their first ever One Day International title.As a result of his splendid performance in the world cup, he was awarded the " Man of the series" award as well.

In the semi-finals against England his accurate seam bowling fetched him the top-order wickets of David Gower and Mike Gatting. He gave away only 27 runs in his 12 overs, for an average of 2.25 an over, the lowest among all Indian bowlers. Returning to bat, he scored 46 runs to give India a solid start. He was named the Man of the Match.

In the finals India batted first against the West Indies which arguably boasted the world's best bowling attack. The team did not fare well, with the entire team being dismissed for a low score of 183 in 54.4 overs, well short of the allotted 60 overs. Amarnath's calm and composed batting against West Indian fast bowling gave the Indian innings some much needed stability, lasting the longest of all Indian batsmen. He occupied the crease for the longest period (80 balls) and scored 26 runs. Though normally in limited over matches a long stint at the crease in not necessarily a good thing, given that India did not last the entire 60 overs Amarnath's innings gave the batsmen at the other end the opportunity to score. Kris Srikkanth top-scored with 38 runs, followed by Sandeep Patil (27 runs) and Amarnath. After the poor batting performance India's chances were deemed almost non-existent. However the Indian bowling exploited the weather and pitch conditions perfectly to bowl out the West Indies for 140, thus winning the finals by 43 runs. Amarnath and Madan Lal were the joint highest wicket takers with 3 wickets each. As he had been in the semi-finals, Amarnath was once again the most economical bowler, conceding only 12 runs in his 7 overs for an average of 1.71 per over. Again, just like the semi-finals, Amarnath was declared the Man of the Match.

Character and Courage[link]

Amarnath was noted for his personality, courage and determination. West Indian cricketing great Vivian Richards called him "one of the nicest men to have ever played the game" and former Australian Test opening batsman David Boon said "Concede didn't seem to be in his vocabulary" [2].

Gideon Haigh writing in The Age says: "In an era replete with fast bowling and unrestricted in use of the bouncer, he never stopped hooking - despite many incentives to do so. He received a hairline fracture of the skull from Richard Hadlee, was knocked unconscious by Imran Khan, had teeth knocked out by Malcolm Marshall and was hit in the jaw so painfully by Jeff Thomson in Perth that he could eat only ice cream for lunch. 'What separated Jimmy from the others,' Michael Holding said, 'was his great ability to withstand pain . . . A fast bowler knows when a batsman is in pain. But Jimmy would stand up and continue.' " [3]

In the Bridgetown Test during India's tour of the West Indies in 1982-83, Amarnath had to retire for stitches after being hit on the head. On returning to the game, he faced one of history's most lethal fast bowlers Michael Holding. It was a given that Holding would try to intimidate Amarnath by bowling a bouncer, and indeed he did so. While most would expect that a batsman in such a situation would do the prudent thing and duck, instead Amarnath stood his ground and hooked the ball to the boundary. However the West Indies bowling attack would wreak their most lethal vengeance upon Amarnath during their 1983/84 tour of India by restricting him to only 1 run in six innings, during which Holding scalped Amarnath three times for a duck.

Amarnath was noted for his conflicts with the Indian cricketing political establishment, famously having called the selectors a "bunch of jokers" [4]. This often resulted in his exclusion from the Indian team also.

Cricket Coaching[link]

Mohinder Amarnath presented a popular weekly cricket coaching TV programme in the late 80s/early 90s. The program went by the name of 'Cricket with Mohinder Amarnath'. It featured technique presentation and discussion with guest speakers who were mostly Indian national team members at the time. It had a decent following among the youth of that time who were hooked to Cricket especially after Reliance Cup was held in India and was available on Doordarshan thus taking cricket to the masses. The title song of this program 'Khel hi hain hamara jeevan...' was very catchy.

External links[link]

• Cricinfo Player Profile : Mohinder Amarnath

Mohinder Amarnath's career performance graph.

v t e India squad – 1975 Cricket World Cup 1 Venkataraghavan (c) 2 Solkar 3 Gaekwad 4 Ghavri 5 Patel 6 Viswanath 7 Gavaskar 8 Engineer (wk) 9 Abid Ali 10 Amarnath 11 Madan Lal 12 Bedi

v t e India squad – 1979 Cricket World Cup 1 Venkataraghavan (c) 2 Gavaskar 3 Amarnath 4 Viswanath 5 Vengsarkar 6 Gaekwad 7 Ghavri 8 Kapil 9 Brijesh 10 Surinder (wk) 11 Bedi 12 Reddy 13 Yashpal

v t e India squad – 1983 Cricket World Cup (1st title) 1 Kapil Dev (c) 2 Gavaskar 3 Srikkanth 4 Vengsarkar 5 Patil 6 Amarnath 7 Yashpal 8 Binny 9 Madan Lal 10 Kirmani (wk) 11 Azad 12 Sandhu 13 Shastri 14 Valson

MS Dhoni

Personal information
Full name	Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Born	(1981-07-07) 7 July 1981 (age 30) Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand), India
Nickname	Mahi
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Batting style	Right-hand batsman
Bowling style	Right-hand medium
Role	Wicket-keeper, India captain
International information
National side	India
Test debut (cap 251)	2 December 2005 v Sri Lanka
Last Test	13 January 2012 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 158)	23 December 2004 v Bangladesh
Last ODI	19 February 2012 v Australia
T20I debut (cap 2)	1 December 2006 v South Africa
Last T20I	3 February 2012 v Australia
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1999/00–2004/05	Bihar
2004/05-present	Jharkhand
2008–present	Chennai Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition	Test	ODI	FC	LA
Matches	67	206	108	253
Runs scored	3,509	6,773	5,671	8,500
Batting average	37.32	51.70	36.12	50.29
100s/50s	5/24	7/45	8/38	13/54
Top score	148	183*	148	183*
Balls bowled	78	12	108	39
Wickets	0	1	0	2
Bowling average	–	14.00	–	18.00
5 wickets in innings	–	–	–	–
10 wickets in match	–	–	–	–
Best bowling	–	1/14	–	1/14
Catches/stumpings	192/28	193/65	284/45	257/76
Source: Cricinfo, 30 January 2012

Mahendra Singh Dhoni  pronunciation (help·info) (born 7 July 1981) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the Indian national cricket team and the Chennai Super Kings cricket team. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and a year later played his first Test, this time against Sri Lanka.

Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, CB Series of 2007–08, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008 and 2010 against Australia 2–0 and 2011 World Cup. His Test, ODI record is best among all the Indian captains to date. He also captained Chennai Super Kings to victory in the recent 2011 IPL and in the Champions League. He is now captain of India in all three forms of the game and also led the team to their first ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under Dhoni's captaincy India became the first team after a gap of more than 20 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. Dhoni also led the Indian team to the number one position in ICC rankings in Test cricket for the first time. Dhoni has also been the recipient of many awards including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first Indian player to achieve this feat), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award and the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour in 2009. In 2009 Dhoni topped the list of world’s top 10 earning cricketers compiled by Forbes.^[1] He was named as the captain of ICC World Test and ICC ODI teams for 2009. In the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup, he hit 91 not out of just 79 balls to lead India to victory. For his outstanding batting in the final, he was awarded as the man of the match. The TIME magazine added him in its "Time 100" list of 100 most influential people of 2011.^[2] According to the SportsPro magazine Dhoni is 10th most valuable brand in field of sports worldwide and number 1 among all Asian superstars.^[3]

Personal life[link]

Sakshi Singh Rawat, Dhoni's wife

Mahendra Singh Dhoni was born in Ranchi, Bihar (now in Jharkhand),^[4] and he identifies as being a Rajput.^[5] His paternal village Lvali is in the Lamgarha block of the Almora District of Uttarakhand. Dhoni's parents, moved from Uttarakhand to Ranchi where Pan Singh worked in junior management positions in MECON. Dhoni has a sister Jayanti and a brother Narendra.^[6] Dhoni is a fan of Adam Gilchrist, and his childhood idols were cricket teammate Sachin Tendulkar, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan and singer Lata Mangeshkar.Shreya Ghoshal is his current favourite singer. He said this in front a press conference with Pune Mirror.^[7][8]

Dhoni studied at DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir, Shyamali,(now the school is known as JVM, Shyamli, Ranchi) Ranchi, Jharkhand where he initially excelled in badminton and football and was selected at district and club level in these sports. Dhoni was a goalkeeper for his football team and was sent to play cricket for a local cricket club by his football coach. Though he had not played cricket, Dhoni impressed with his wicket-keeping skills and became the regular wicketkeeper at the Commando cricket club (1995–1998). Based on his performance at club cricket, he was picked for the 1997/98 season Vinoo Mankad Trophy Under-16 Championship and he performed well.^[6] Dhoni focused on cricket after his 10th standard.^[9]

Dhoni married Sakshi (née Rawat) on 4 July 2010. Sakshi Dhoni, a native of Dehradun, Uttarakhand. At the time of their marriage, she was studying Hotel Management and was working as a trainee at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. After the retirement of Sakshi’s father from tea gardens, their family shifted to their native place, Dehradun.

The wedding stumped the media and the fans as it took place only a day after the couple got engaged.^[10][11] Bollywood actress Bipasha Basu, a close friend of Dhoni, was quick to inform the media that the wedding was planned for months and was not a spur of the moment decision.^[12]

Playing style[link]

Dhoni is a right-handed batsman and wicket-keeper. Dhoni is one of the number of wicket-keepers who have come through the ranks of junior and India A cricket teams to represent the national team – Parthiv Patel, Ajay Ratra and Dinesh Karthik also followed this route. Dhoni, referred to as 'Mahi' by his friends, debuted in the Bihar cricket team during the 1998/99 cricket season and was selected to represent India-A for a tour to Kenya in 2004. Along with Gautam Gambhir, Dhoni made multiple centuries against the Pakistan-A team in a tri-nation series and was selected in the Indian national team later in that year.^[13]

Dhoni tends to play mostly from the back foot with a pronounced bottom hand grip. He has a very fast hand speed through the ball which often results in the ball racing across the ground. From this initial stance his feet do not show much movement which sometimes results in chasing balls while not coming to the pitch of the ball or to some deliveries catching the inside edge.

Dhoni scored 148 against Pakistan in his fifth ODI match in 2005 – then the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper. Later in the year, he broke his own record as well as set the current world record for the highest score in the second innings in ODI matches as he scored 183* against Sri Lanka. Dhoni's success in the limited overs format secured him a place in the Test team. Consistent performances in ODI cricket through the end of the 2005/06 season saw Dhoni briefly ranked as the No. 1 batsman in the ICC ODI ratings.^[6]

Dhoni's form dipped through 2006 as India lost matches at the ICC Champions trophy, DLF Cup, away bilateral series against West Indies and South Africa. A return to form in the home series against West Indies and Sri Lanka in early 2007 proved to be an inaccurate indicator of Dhoni's form as India crashed out of the first round in the 2007 Cricket World Cup. Dhoni was out for a duck in both India's losses. After the World Cup, Dhoni won the Man of the series award in the bilateral ODI tournament against Bangladesh. For the tour of England, Dhoni was named the ODI team vice-captain.^[14]

Only nine players have captained ten or more Tests while playing as a wicket-keeper. Dhoni leads the field with 33 Tests as captain, 15 ahead of Gerry Alexander in second place.^[15]

Domestic career[link]

Junior cricket[link]

Dhoni was included in the Bihar U-19 squad for the 1998/99 season and scored 176 runs in 5 matches (7 innings) as the team finished fourth in the group of six and did not make it to the quarter finals. Dhoni was not picked for the East Zone U-19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) and Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy). Bihar U-19 cricket team advanced to the finals of the 1999–2000 Cooch Behar Trophy where Dhoni made 84 to help Bihar post a total of 357. Bihar's efforts were dwarfed by Punjab U-19's 839 with Dhoni's future national squad teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358.^[16] Dhoni's contribution for the tournament included 488 runs (9 matches, 12 innings), 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings.^[17] MS Dhoni made it to the East Zone U-19 squad for the CK Nayudu trophy but scored only 97 runs in four matches as East Zone lost all four matches and finished last in the tournament.

Bihar team[link]

Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999–2000 season as an eighteen year old. He made a half century in his debut match scoring 68* in the second innings against Assam cricket team.^[18] Dhoni finished the season with 283 runs in 5 matches. Dhoni scored his maiden first-class century against Bengal in the 2000/01 season in a losing cause.^[19] Apart from the century, his performance in the 2000/01^[20] did not include another score over fifty and in 2001/02 season he scored just five fifty in each season in four Ranji matches.^[21] Dhoni's performance for the 2002/03 season in the Ranji Trophy included three half centuries in the Ranji Trophy and a couple of half-centuries in the Deodhar Trophy competition as he started winning recognition for his lower-order run contribution as well as hard hitting batting style.

In the 2003/04 season, Dhoni scored a century (128*) against Assam in the first match of the Ranji ODI trophy. He was part of the East Zone squad that won the Deodhar Trophy for the year and contributed with 244 runs in 4 matches. In the Duleep Trophy finals, Dhoni was picked over International cricketer Deep Dasgupta to represent East zone.^[22] He scored a fighting half century in the second innings in a losing cause.^[23]

The future captain was discovered via the BCCI's small-town talent-spotting initiative TRDW. Dhoni was discovered by TRDO PC Podar, captain of Bengal in the 1960s, when he saw Dhoni play for Jharkhand at a match in Jamshedpur in 2003, and sent a report to the National Cricket Academy.^[24]

India A team[link]

He was recognised for his efforts in the 2003/04 season, especially in the ODI format and was picked for the India A squad for a tour of Zimbabwe and Kenya.^[25] Against the Zimbabwe XI in Harare Sports Club, Dhoni had his best wicket-keeping effort with 7 catches and 4 stumpings in the match.^[26] In the tri-nation tournament involving Kenya, India 'A' and Pakistan 'A', Dhoni helped India 'A' chase their target of 223 against Pakistan 'A' with a half-century.^[27] Stressing on his performance, he scored back to back centuries – 120^[28] and 119*^[29] against the same squad. Dhoni scored 362 runs in 7 matches (6 innings, Avg:72.40), and his performance in the series received attention from the then Indian Cricket team captain – Sourav Ganguly^[30] and Ravi Shastri amongst others. However, the India 'A' team coach Sandeep Patil recommended Dinesh Karthik for a place in the Indian squad as Wicket-keeper/Batsman.^[31]

Indian Premier League[link]

M.S.Dhoni was contracted by the Chennai Super Kings for 1.5 Million USD. This made him the most expensive player in the IPL for the first season auctions.^[32] Dhoni is the present captain of the Chennai Super Kings Team. Under his captaincy, Chennai Super Kings have won 2 Indian Premier League titles and the 2010 Champions League Twenty20.

Batting Stats in IPL and Champions League Twenty20[link]

ODI career[link]

The Indian team in the 2000s (decade) saw the use of Rahul Dravid as the wicket-keeper to ensure that the wicket-keeper spot didn't lack in batting talent.^[30] The Indian cricket establishment also saw the entry of wicket-keeper/batsmen from the junior ranks with talents like Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik – both India U-19 Captains in the test squads.^[30] With Dhoni making a mark in the India-A squad, he was picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 2004/05.^[41] Dhoni did not have a great start to his ODI career, getting run out for a duck on debut.^[42] In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, Dhoni was picked for the Pakistan ODI series.^[43] In the second match of the series, Dhoni in his fifth one-day international, scored 148 in Vishakapatnam off only 123 deliveries. Dhoni's 148 surpassed the earlier record for the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper,^[44] a record that he would re-write before the end of the year.

Dhoni had few batting opportunities in the first two games of the Sri Lankan bilateral ODI series (October–November 2005) and was promoted to No. 3 in the third ODI at Sawai Mansingh Stadium (Jaipur). Sri Lanka had set India a target of 299 after a Kumar Sangakkara century and in reply, India lost Tendulkar early. Dhoni was promoted to accelerate the scoring and ended the game with an unbeaten 183 off 145 balls, winning the game for India^[45] – an innings described in Wisden Almanack (2006) as 'Uninhibited, yet anything but crude'.^[46] The innings set various records including the highest Individual score in ODI cricket in the second innings,^[47] a record that still stands. Dhoni ended the series with the highest run aggregate (346)^[48] and was awarded the Man of the series award for his efforts. In December 2005, Dhoni was signed by BCCI to a B-grade contract, skipping the initial C-grade level due to his performance on the cricketing field.^[49]

Dhoni bowling in the nets. He rarely bowls at international level.

India scored 328 in 50 overs with Dhoni contributing 68 in their first match of 2006 against Pakistan. However the team finished poorly, scoring just 43 runs in the last eight overs and lost the match due to Duckworth-Lewis method.^[50] In the third match of the series, Dhoni came in with India in a precarious situation and scored 72 runs off just 46 balls that included 13 boundaries to help India take a 2–1 lead in the series.^[51][52] The final match of the series had a repeat performance as Dhoni scored 77 runs off 56 balls to enable India win the series 4–1.^[53] In recognition of his consistent ODI performances, Dhoni overtook Ricky Ponting as number one in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen on 20 April 2006.^[54] His reign lasted just a week as Adam Gilchrist's performance against Bangladesh moved him to the top spot.^[55]

Two cancelled series in Sri Lanka, one due to the withdrawal of South Africa from the Unitech Cup due to security concerns^[56] and the replacement 3-match ODI bilateral series against Sri Lanka washed due to rain,^[57] was India's prelude to another disappointing tournament – DLF Cup 2006-07. Dhoni scored 43 runs as the team lost twice in three games and did not qualify for the finals. India's lack of preparation showed in the 2006 ICC Champions Trophy as they lost to West Indies and Australia, though Dhoni scored a half-century against West Indies. The story of the ODI series in South Africa was the same for both Dhoni and India as Dhoni scored 139 runs in 4 matches and India lost the series 4–0. From the start of the WI ODI series, Dhoni had played 16 matches, hit just two fifties and averaged 25.93. Dhoni received criticism on his wicket keeping technique from former wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani.^[58]

Preparations for the 2007 Cricket World Cup improved as India recorded identical 3–1 victories over West Indies and Sri Lanka and Dhoni had averages in excess of 100 in both these series. However, India unexpectedly crashed out the World Cup after losses to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Dhoni was out for a duck in both these matches and scored 29 runs in the tournament. After the loss to Bangladesh in 2007 Cricket World Cup, the house that Dhoni was constructing in his home-town Ranchi was vandalised and damaged by political activists of JMM.^[59] The local police arranged for security for his family as India exited the World cup in the first round.^[60]

Dhoni put his disappointment in the World cup behind him by scoring 91* against Bangladesh after India were left in a tight spot earlier in the run-chase. Dhoni was declared the man of the match for his performance, his fourth in ODI cricket. He was also later adjudged the man of the series after the third game of the series was washed away. Dhoni had a good Afro-Asia Cup, getting 174 runs in 3 matches at an average of 87.00, with a blitzkrieg 139 not out of 97 balls, a Man Of The Match innings, in the 3rd ODI.

Dhoni was nominated as the vice-captain of the ODI team for the series against South Africa in Ireland and the subsequent India-England 7-match ODI series.^[14] Dhoni, who received a 'B' grade contract in December 2005, was awarded an 'A' grade contract in June 2007. And also he was elected as captain of Indian Twenty-20 Cricket Team for the World Twenty20 in September 2007. On 2 September 2007 Mahendra Singh Dhoni equalled his idol Adam Gilchrist's international record for the most dismissals in an innings in ODI by catching 5 English players and stumping one.^[61] He led India to the ICC World Twenty 20 trophy in South Africa with a victory over arch rivals Pakistan in an intensely fought final on 24 September 2007, and became the second Indian captain to have won a World cup in any form of cricket, after Kapil Dev. Dhoni took his first wicket and ODI wicket on 30 September 2009. He bowled Travis Dowlin from the West Indies. During the series between India and Australia, Dhoni hit an aggressive 124 runs in just 107 balls, in the second ODI, and a measured knock of 71 runs in 95 balls, along with Yuvraj Singh, saw India home by 6 wickets, in the third ODI.

Dhoni topped the ICC ODI Batsman rankings for several months continuously in 2009, it was Hussy from Australia who replaced him for the top spot in the beginning of 2010.

Dhoni had an excellent year in ODIs in 2009 scoring 1198 runs in just 24 innings at an astonishing average of 70.43. Dhoni was also the joint top-scorer in ODIs in 2009 along with Ricky Ponting, but the latter having played in 30 innings.

On 12 February 2012, Dhoni made an unbeaten 44 to guide India to their first win over Australia at Adelaide. In the final over, he hit a monstrous six which travelled 112 metres off the bowling of Clint McKay. During the post-match presentation, he described this six as more important than the one he hit during the ICC World Cup final in 2011.^[62]

Test career[link]

Test Career of Dhoni. Each bar indicates a single innings and the red line indicates the progression in his career batting average. An alternative image showing a 10 innings moving average is available.

Following his good one-day form against Sri Lanka, Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicket-keeper.^[63] Dhoni scored 30 runs in his debut match that was marred by rain. Dhoni came to the crease when the team was struggling at 109/5 and as wickets kept falling around him, he played an aggressive innings and was the last man dismissed.^[64] Dhoni made his maiden half-century in the second Test and his quick scoring rate (half century came off 51 balls) aided India to set a target of 436 and the Sri Lankans were bowled out for 247.^[65]

India toured Pakistan in January/February 2006 and Dhoni scored his maiden century in the second Test at Faisalabad. India were left in a tight spot as Dhoni was joined by Irfan Pathan with the team still 107 away from avoiding follow-on. Dhoni played his typical aggressive innings as he scored his maiden test century in just 93 balls after scoring his first fifty in just 34 deliveries.^[66]

Dhoni at fielding practice.

Dhoni followed his maiden test century with some prosaic batting performances over the next three matches, one against Pakistan that India lost and two against England that had India holding a 1–0 lead going into the test match. Dhoni was the top scorer in India's first innings in the third test at Wankhede Stadium as his 64 aided India post a respectable 279 in reply to England's 400. However Dhoni and the Indian fielders dropped too many catches and missed many dismissal chances including a key stumping opportunity of Andrew Flintoff (14).^[67] Dhoni failed to collect the Harbhajan Singh delivery cleanly as Flintoff went on to make 36 more runs as England set a target of 313 for the home team, a target that India were never in the reckoning. A batting collapse saw the team being dismissed for 100 and Dhoni scored just 5 runs and faced criticism for his wicket-keeping lapses as well as his shot selections.

On the West Indies tour in 2006, Dhoni scored a quick and aggressive 69 in the first Test at Antigua. The rest of the series was unremarkable for Dhoni as he scored 99 runs in the remaining 6 innings but his wicket-keeping skills improved and he finished the series with 13 catches and 4 stumpings. In the test series in South Africa, Dhoni's scores of 34 and 47 were not sufficient to save the second test against the Proteas as India lost the test series 2–1, squandering the chance to build on their first ever Test victory in South Africa (achieved in the first Test match). Dhoni's bruised hands ruled him out of the third test match.^[68]

On the fourth day of the first Test match at Antigua Recreation Ground, St John's, Antigua during India's tour of West Indies, 2006, Dhoni's flick off Dave Mohammed to the midwicket region was caught by Daren Ganga. As the batsman started to walk back, captain Dravid declared the innings when confusion started as the umpires were not certain if the fielder stepped on the ropes and Dhoni stayed for the umpire's verdict. While the replays were inconclusive, the captain of the West Indies side, Brian Lara, wanted Dhoni to walk-off based on the fielder's assertion of the catch. The impasse continued for more than 15 minutes and Lara's temper was on display with finger wagging against the umpires and snatching the ball from umpire Asad Rauf. Ultimately, Dhoni walked-off and Dravid's declaration was effected but the game was delayed, and Lara's action was criticised by the commentators and former players. Lara was summoned by the match referee to give an explanation of his actions but he was not fined.^[69]

Dhoni scored two centuries in Sri Lanka's tour of India in 2009, a series of 3 matches in which he led India to a 2–0 victory. With this feat, India soared up to the number 1 position in Test cricket for the first time in history. India scored 726–9 (decl) in the third match of this series, which is their highest Test total ever.^[70]

Captain of India[link]

Dhoni was named the captain of India Twenty 20 squad for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa in September 2007.^[71] India were crowned champions as Dhoni led the team to victory against Pakistan in a thrilling contest.^[72] He, then went on to become the ODI captain of the Indian team for the seven-match ODI series against Australia in September 2007.^[73] He made his debut as full-time Test captain of India during the fourth and final test against Australia at Nagpur in November 2008 replacing Anil Kumble who was injured in the third test and who then announced his retirement. Dhoni was vice-captain in this series up to that point.^[74] India eventually won that Test thus clinching the series 2–0 and retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.^[75] Dhoni had previously captained India on a stand-in basis against South Africa and Australia in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

It was under his captaincy that India climbed to No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings in December 2009. After that he managed to lead India in a series-levelling world championship of Tests against the South Africans in February 2010.

After winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup for India against Sri Lanka on 2 April 2011 with his match winning knock of unbeaten 91, Tendulkar heaped praises on Dhoni, claiming him to be the best captain he has played under. Tendulkar mentioned that it was Dhoni's calm influence that was rubbing off on all his team-mates and even under such extreme pressure from every corner the way Dhoni handles it and brings the best out of him was just incredible. Saurav Ganguly also said in an interview to a news channel that Dhoni is the all time greatest captain of India and he has a great record to support this credential.

Two-match ban[link]

Dhoni was handed a two-match ban from playing in the ODI series against Sri Lanka for the team's slow over-rate during the second one-dayer in Nagpur (18 December 2009).^[76]

World Cup[link]

Under Dhoni's captaincy, India won the 2011 World Cup. In the final against Sri Lanka, chasing 275, Dhoni promoted himself up the batting order, coming before Yuvraj Singh. When he came to bat India needed more than six runs per over with three top order batsmen already dismissed. He started building a good partnership with Gautam Gambhir. Due to good strokeplay and active running between wickets, they kept up with the required run rate. Dhoni was on 60 off 60 balls, but later accelerated with a greater flow of boundaries, ending with 91 not out off 79 balls. Befitting the occasion, he finished the match with a huge six over long-on off bowler Nuwan Kulasekara.

Later he admitted in the post match presentation that he came up the order so as to counter the Muralitharan spin threat as he was very familiar with Murali's bowling, being his team-mate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings. He had come after the dismissal of Virat Kohli, also a right-handed batsman. By partnering with the left-handed Gambhir, he ensured a right-left combination at the crease that makes it difficult for bowlers to settle into a rhythm.

The bat used by Dhoni in the final match,which got the team winning six was sold for 72 Lac. The money goes to Sakshi Rawat Foundation, operated by Dhoni's wife Sakshi Rawat to help orphan children.^[77]

Cricket performance[link]

ODI Cricket[link]

ODI career records by opposition
#	Opponent	Matches	Runs	Average	High Score	100s	50s	Catches	Stumping
1	Africa XI[78]	3	174	87.00	139*	1	0	3	3
2	Australia	25	697	38.72	124	1	3	26	9
3	Bangladesh	9	247	61.75	101*	1	1	9	6
4	Bermuda	1	29	29.00	29	0	0	1	0
5	England	23	817	48.06	96	0	3	19	7
6	Hong Kong	1	109	-	109*	1	0	1	3
7	New Zealand	11	309	51.50	84*	0	2	7	2
8	Pakistan	25	1001	52.68	148	1	8	22	6
9	Scotland	1	-	-	-	-	-	2	-
10	South Africa	19	386	25.73	107	0	2	7	1
11	Sri Lanka	46	1798	62.00	183*	2	14	38	9
12	West Indies	18	499	49.90	95	0	3	16	4
13	Zimbabwe	2	123	123.00	67*	0	2	0	1
Total		192	6372	50.17	183*	7	42	182	61

ODI Centuries:

ODI centuries
#	Runs	Match	Against	Stadium	City/Country	Year
1	148	5	Pakistan	ACA-VDCA Stadium	Vishakapatnam, India	2005
2	183*	22	Sri Lanka	Sawai Mansingh Stadium	Jaipur, India	2005
3	139*	74	Africa XI[78]	MA Chidambaram Stadium	Chennai, India	2007
4	109*	109	Hong Kong	National Stadium	Karachi, Pakistan	2008
5	124	143	Australia	VCA Stadium	Nagpur, India	2009
6	107	152	Sri Lanka	VCA Stadium	Nagpur, India	2009
7	101*	156	Bangladesh	Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium	Dhaka, Bangladesh	2010

ODI records[link]

• On 31 October 2005 Dhoni scored 183* runs of just 145 balls against Sri Lanka in Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur, which is the highest score made by any batsman in the second innings (surpassing Lara's previous record of 153).^[47]
  • The innings featured 10 Sixes – the most by an Indian in an innings, and the fifth highest in ODIs.^[79]
  • He broke Adam Gilchrist's record of 172 for the highest score made by a wicket keeper.
  • The innings set the record for the most number of runs scored in boundaries (120 – 15x4; 10x6) breaking the record held by Saeed Anwar. However this was later broken by Herschelle Gibbs (126 runs in boundaries – 21x4; 7x6) against Australia during his knock of 175.
  • The score of 183* equalled Ganguly's innings during the 1999 Cricket World Cup as the highest individual score against Sri Lanka.
• Among Indian batsmen who have played more than 50 matches, Dhoni has the highest average.^[80] Dhoni's batting average is also the highest amongst wicketkeepers in ODIs.
• In June 2007, Dhoni(139*) and Mahela Jayawardene(107)^[78] set a new world record for the sixth wicket partnership of 218 runs against Africa XI during the Afro-Asia Cup.^[81]
  • Dhoni passed Shaun Pollock's record for the highest individual score by a number seven batsman in one-day internationals during his unbeaten innings of 139.^[82] Incidentally, Pollock record stood for just three days as his score of 130 came in the first match of the 2007 Afro-Asia Cup while Dhoni's century came in the third and final match of the series.
  • Dhoni also holds the records of the most dismissals in an innings by an Indian wicketkeeper and joint International (with Adam Gilchrist) with 6 dismissals (5 catches and one stumping) against England at Headlingly 2 September 2007.
  • Dhoni holds the Indian record of most dismissals in ODIs. He went past Nayan Mongia's 154 for India on 14 November 2008 when he caught Ian Bell off Zaheer Khan at Madhavrao Scindia Cricket Ground, Rajkot. However including 3 ODIs against Africa XI, his 155th dismissal was TM Dilshan caught off Munaf Patel at R. Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on 24 August 2008.
• Dhoni, when he was on four during his innings of 23 against Sri Lanka at R.Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on Saturday, completed 4,000 runs in ODIs. Having already effected 165 dismissals (125 catches + 40 stumpings), Dhoni became the sixth wicketkeeper after Adam Gilchrist, Andy Flower, Alec Stewart, Mark Boucher and Kumar Sangakkara to complete the "double" of 4,000 runs and 100 dismissals in the history of ODIs. Dhoni’s feat of completing the "double" of 4,000 runs and 100 dismissals in only 114 innings is a world record. He is the youngest wicket-keeper batsman to do so (27 years and 208 days).

Man of the Series Awards[link]

S No	Series (Opponents)	Season	Series Performance
1	Sri Lanka in  India ODI Series	2005/06	346 Runs (7 Matches & 5 Innings, 1x100, 1x50); 6 Catches & 3 Stumpings
2	India in  Bangladesh ODI Series	2007	127 Runs (2 Matches & 2 Innings, 1x50); 1 Catches & 2 Stumpings[83]
3	India in  Sri Lanka ODI Series	2008	193 Runs (5 Matches & 5 Innings, 2x50); 3 Catches & 1 Stumping
4	India in  West Indies ODI Series	2009	182 Runs (4 Matches & 3 Innings with an average of 91); 4 Catches & 1 Stumping
5	India in  England ODI Series	2011	236 Runs (5 Matches & 5 Innings with an average of 78.66, 3x50)
5	England in  India ODI Series	2011	212 Runs (5 Matches & 4 Innings with out been dismissed even once in the series, 2x50)

Man of the Match Awards:

S No	Opponent	Venue	Season	Match Performance
1	Pakistan	Vishakapatnam	2004/05	148 (123b, 15x4, 4x6); 2 Catches
2	Sri Lanka	Jaipur	2005/06	183* (145b, 15x4, 10x6); 1 Catch
3	Pakistan	Lahore	2005/06	72 (46b, 12x4); 3 Catches
4	Bangladesh	Mirpur	2007	91* (106b, 7x4); 1 Stumping
5	Africa XI[78]	Chennai	2007	139* (97b, 15x4, 5x6); 3 Stumpings
6	Australia	Chandigarh	2007	50* ( 35 b, 5x4 1x6); 2 Stumpings
7	Pakistan	Guwahati	2007	63, 1 Stumping
8	Sri Lanka	Karachi	2008	67, 2 Catches
9	Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	2008	76, 2 Catches
10	New Zealand	McLean Park, Napier	2009	84*, 1 Catch & 1 Stumping
11	West Indies	Beausejour Stadium, St. Lucia	2009	46*, 2 Catches & 1 Stumping
12	Australia	Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur	2009	124, 1 Catches, 1 Stumping & 1 Runout
13	Bangladesh	Mirpur	2010	101* (107b, 9x4)
14	Sri Lanka	Wankhede Stadium	2011	91 Not Out
14	England	Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium	2011	87*, 1 Catch & 1 Stumping

Test cricket[link]

Test performance^[84]:

Test career records by opposition
#	Opponents	Matches	Runs	Average	High Score	100s	50s	Catches	Stumpings
1	Australia	12	582	30.63	92	0	5	32	9
2	Bangladesh	3	193	96.50	89	0	2	12	3
3	England	12	617	32.47	92	0	6	37	3
4	New Zealand	5	299	49.83	98	0	3	19	3
5	Pakistan	5	323	64.60	148	1	2	9	1
6	South Africa	10	560	37.33	132*	1	2	24	1
7	Sri Lanka	9	491	49.10	110	2	2	21	1
8	West Indies	10	430	26.88	144	1	2	36	7
Total		66	3495	37.99	148	5	24	190	28

Test centuries:

Test centuries
#	Runs	Match	Against	Stadium	City/Country	Year
1	148	5	Pakistan	Iqbal Stadium	Faisalabad, Pakistan	2006
2	110	38	Sri Lanka	Sardar Patel Stadium	Ahmedabad, India	2009
3	100*	40	Sri Lanka	Brabourne Stadium	Mumbai, India	2009
4	132*	42	South Africa	Eden Gardens	Kolkata, India	2010
5	144	63	West Indies	Eden Gardens	Kolkata, India	2011

Man of the Match Awards:

S No	Opponent	Venue	Season	Match Performance
1	Australia	Mohali	2008	92 & 68*

Test records[link]

• Dhoni's maiden century against Pakistan in Faisalabad (148) is the fastest century scored by an Indian wicket keeper. Only three centuries by two other wicket-keepers (Kamran Akmal and Adam Gilchrist – 2) were faster than Dhoni's 93 ball century.^[85]
• Under Dhoni's captaincy, India defeated Australia by 320 runs on 21 October 2008, biggest ever win in terms of runs for India.^[86]
• Dhoni holds the record for most catches by an Indian player in an innings. He achieved this feat by taking six catches during the first innings of the third test against New Zealand in Wellington in April 2009.
• Dhoni also equalled Syed Kirmani's record for most dismissals in an innings by an Indian wicket-keeper. Syed Kirmani has effected 6 dismissals (5 catches and 1 stumping) against New Zealand in 1976. Dhoni now has equalled that record for most dismissals with 6 dismissals (all 6 catches) against New Zealand in 2009.
• Dhoni currently ranks third in the all-time dismissals list by Indian wicket-keepers. With the six dismissals in the first innings of the Test match against New Zealand in Auckland,April 2009, Dhoni has now been involved in 109 dismissals. The following is the list of top five Indian wicket-keepers, in terms of all-time dismissals in test matches: Syed Kirmani (198 dismissals), Kiran More (130 dismissals), Dhoni (109 dismissals), Nayan Mongia (107 dismissals) & Farokh Engineer (82 dismissals).
• Dhoni is now the second wicketkeeper to have effected 6 dismissals in an innings apart from a fifty in each innings of a Test match. Denis Lindsay had accomplished the feat for South Africa against Australia at Johannesburg in December 1966 – 69 & 182 and 6 ct. + 2 ct.
• Under Dhoni's captaincy, India reached their highest test score of 726–9 (decl) during Sri Lanka's tour of India in 2009. Their 2–0 victory in the series took them to the number 1 ranking in Test cricket for the first time in history.
• Under Dhoni's captaincy, India did not lose a test match until the first test versus South Africa in Nagpur in February 2010. As a captain, he holds a record for longest unbeaten run in tests from his debut, 11 tests (8 wins and 3 draws). This record crossed former Australian captain Warwick Armstrong's run of 10 unbeaten tests (8 wins, 2 draws) from debut. In Dhoni's streak, however, there was a period of injury in which Virender Sehwag led the side (for 3 draws). So India's unbeaten streak was for 14 tests, of which 11 were Dhoni's.^{[citation needed]}
• However Dhoni's unbeaten streak of 11 test matches ended during India's tour of England in 2011 and England also replaced India from No.1 spot in ICC Test team rankings.

Captaincy Record[link]

Note - In the 2010 ICC World Twenty20, India played a Super 8 Match against West Indies. This match comes under the List of Matches played in Away Venues as the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was being hosted in West Indies

Honorary Awards[link]

Honorary Doctorate[link]

Dhoni was awarded an honorary doctorate degree by De Montfort University in August 2011.^[97]

Honorary Military Rank[link]

The Territorial Army conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel^[98] to Dhoni on 1 November 2011. He is the second Indian cricketer after Kapil Dev to have received this honor.

Match Ban[link]

Due to slow-over rate, MS Dhoni being the captain of Indian cricket team has seldom faced with a restrictions to play in the matches. In December 2009, he was suspended for 2 ODI matches against Sri Lanka when ICC match referee Jeff Crowe had imposed this ban as India was three over beyond the specified duration. Hence Virender Sehwag was named the skipper for the next two mathes help in Cuttak and Kolkatta.^[99] Further, in January 2012 he was banned for the 4th test match against Australia in Adelaide. Dhoni was two over short during the third test in Perth.^[100] Consequently, Virender Sehwag captained the Adelaide test and Wriddhiman Saha kept the wickets. In the CB Series, MS Dhoni again faced a one match ban for slow-over rate against Australia, for the second time in 2012.

Endorsements[link]

MS Dhoni signed with Kolkata-based celebrity management company Gameplan Sports in April 2005.^[101][102] Currently Dhoni has 20 endorsements, only Shahrukh Khan has more (21).^[103] In 2007 Dhoni had 17 endorsements.^[104] In July 2010, Dhoni tied up with Rhiti Sports Management and Mindscapes and has been promised a minimum guarantee of Rs 210 crore over the next three years.^[105]

The following is the list of endorsements signed by Dhoni.

• 2005: Pepsico,^[106][107] Reebok,^[106][107] Exide,^[107] TVS Motors.^[108]
• 2006: Mysore Sandal Soap,^[109] Videocon,^[110] Reliance Communications,^[111] Reliance Energy,^[111] Orient PSPO Fan,^[112] Bharat Petroleum,^[113] Titan Sonata,^[114] Brylcream,^[115] NDTV,^[116] GE Money.^[117]
• 2007: Siyaram.^[118]
• 2008: Fashion at Big Bazaar alongside Bollywood actress Asin, Maha Choco, Boost (health food), Dainik Bhaskar^[119]
• 2009: Dabur Honey, Kolkata Fashion Week.^[120] Aircel communications, Nova Scottia Premium shirts.
• 2010: Amrapali^[121]

Notes[link]