mahendra singh dhoni

In 1998 Dhoni was selected by Deval Sahay to play for the Central Coal Fields Limited (CCL) team.Dhoni was included in the Bihar U19 squad for the 199899 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 quarterfinals. Dhoni was not picked for the East Zone U19 squad (CK Nayudu Trophy) or Rest of India squad (MA Chidambaram Trophy and Vinoo Mankad Trophy). Bihar U19 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. Bihars efforts were dwarfed by Punjab U19s 839 with Dhonis future national squad teammate Yuvraj Singh making 358. Dhonis contribution in the tournament included 488 runs (9 matches, 12 innings), 5 fifties, 17 catches and 7 stumpings. Dhoni made it to the East Zone U19 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.

Dhoni made his Ranji Trophy debut for Bihar in the 1999 2000 season as an eighteenyearold. He made a half century in his debut match scoring 68 in the second innings against Assam cricket team. Dhoni finished the season with 283 runs in 5 matches. Dhoni scored his maiden firstclass century while playing for Bihar against Bengal in the 200001 season in a losing cause. Apart from this century, his performance in the 200001 season[38] did not include another score over fifty and in the 200102 season he scored just five fifties in four Ranji matches.

Dhonis performance in the 200203 season included three halfcenturies in the Ranji Trophy and a couple of halfcenturies in the Deodhar Trophy as he started gaining recognition for his lowerorder contribution as well as hardhitting batting style. In the 200304 season, Dhoni scored a century (128) against Assam in the first match of the Ranji ODI tournament. He was part of the East Zone squad that won the Deodhar Trophy that 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. He scored a fighting halfcentury in the second innings in a losing cause.Dhonis talent was discovered via the BCCIs smalltown talentspotting 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.

Following his good oneday performance against Sri Lanka, Dhoni replaced Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicketkeeper.Dhoni scored 30 runs in his debut match that was marred by rain. Dhoni came to the crease when the team was struggling at 1095 and as wickets kept falling around him, he played an aggressive innings and was the last man dismissed.Dhoni made his maiden halfcentury 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.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 a followon. Dhoni played his typical aggressive innings as he brought up his maiden Test hundred in just 93 balls after scoring the first fifty in just 34 deliveries.Dhoni at fielding practiceDhoni followed the century up 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. Dhoni was the top scorer in Indias first innings in the third Test at Wankhede Stadium as his 64 aided India post a respectable 279 in reply to Englands 400. However Dhoni and the Indian fielders dropped catches and missed many dismissal chances including a key stumping opportunity of Andrew Flintoff (14).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 wicketkeeping lapses as well as his shot selections.

Dhoni was named the captain of Indian squad for the inaugural ICC World Twenty20 held in South Africa in September 2007. India were crowned champions as Dhoni led the team to victory against Pakistan in a thrilling contest.He, then, went on to become the ODI captain of the Indian team for the sevenmatch ODI series against Australia in September 2007. He made his debut as fulltime 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 vicecaptain in this series up to that point.India eventually won that Test thus clinching the series 2 0 and retained the BorderGavaskar Trophy.Dhoni had previously captained India on a standin 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 seriesleveling world championship of Tests against the South Africans in February 2010. India also managed to draw the Test series 11 in South Africa later that year.After winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup final 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 Dhonis calm influence that was rubbing off on all his teammates and described Dhonis handling of pressure was incredible.Only nine players have captained ten or more Tests playing as a wicketkeeper. Dhoni leads the table with 33 Tests as captain, 15 ahead of Gerry Alexander in second place.In March 2013, Dhoni became the most successful Indian Test captain when he eclipsed Sourav Gangulys record of 21 victories from 49 Tests. Ganguly also said in an interview to a news channel that Dhoni is the alltime greatest captain of India and he has a great record to support this credential.

Dhoni, being captain of the Indian cricket team, has seldom faced any restrictions not to play in matches, due to slowover rate. In December 2009, he was suspended for two ODI matches against Sri Lanka when ICC match referee Jeff Crowe imposed the ban as India was three overs short of the specified overs. Hence Virender Sehwag was named the skipper for the two matches in Cuttack and Kolkata.Further, in January 2012 he was banned for the fourth Test match against Australia in Adelaide. Dhonis team was two overs short during the third Test in Perth. Consequently, Sehwag captained the team in the Adelaide test and Wriddhiman Saha kept the wickets. In the CB Series in February, Dhoni again faced a one match ban for slowover rate against Australia.

Under Dhonis 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 of in style with a huge six over longon off bowler Nuwan Kulasekara and won Man of the Match. Later in the post match presentation, he admitted that he came up the order so as to counter the Muralitharan spin threat as he was very familiar with Muralis bowling, who was his teammate in the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings. He had come after the dismissal of Virat Kohli, also a righthanded batsman. By partnering the lefthanded Gambhir, he ensured a rightleft combination at the crease that makes it difficult for bowlers to settle into a rhythm.The bat used by Dhoni in the final match was sold for INR 72 Lac. The money goes to Sakshi Rawat Foundation, operated by Dhonis wife Sakshi Rawat to help orphan children.

In 2012, Dhoni was announced as the worlds top earning cricketer by Forbes magazine. He is considered to be the 31st richest sportsman in the world, thus passing Sachin Tendulkar in this rank. He has been included in The TIME magazines list of the hundred most influential people of 2011. For his outstanding contribution to cricket, Mahender Singh Dhoni has been a recipient of numerous prestigious awards such as the ICC ODI Player of the Year award for two years in a row, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award as well as the Padma Shri in 2009.

Mahender Singh Dhoni has been one of those rare people who stay away from controversies when it comes to their personal lives. He is married to Sakshi Singh Rawat, a native of Uttarakhand and are known to be very happy together. Their wedding was a hushhush affair, something that took the media by surprise.Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a multifaceted person with immense skill on the field and humility off it. His life is an inspiring tale of struggle and a lesson in perseverance to those who wish to follow his footsteps.

The Indian ODI team in the early 2000s saw Rahul Dravid as the wicketkeeper to ensure that the wicketkeeper spot didnt lack in batting talent. The team also saw the entry of wicketkeeperbatsmen from the junior ranks with talents like Parthiv Patel and Dinesh Karthik (both India U19 captains) named in the Test squads. With Dhoni making a mark in the India A squad, he was picked in the ODI squad for the Bangladesh tour in 200405.Dhoni did not have a great start to his ODI career, getting run out for a duck on debut.In spite of an average series against Bangladesh, Dhoni was picked for the Pakistan ODI series.In the second match of the series, Dhoni, in his fifth oneday international, scored 148 in Vishakapatnam off only 123 deliveries. Dhonis 148 surpassed the earlier record for the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper,a record that he would rewrite 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. The innings was described in Wisden Almanack (2006) as Uninhibited, yet anything but crude. The innings set various records including the highest individual score in ODI cricket in the second innings, a record that still stands. Dhoni ended the series with the highest run aggregate (346) and was awarded the Man of the Series award for his efforts. In December 2005, Dhoni was rewarded a Bgrade contract by the BCCI.