Test career

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.