MS Dhoni Captaincy Records

A young lad in Ranchi, great with the gloves, “football ones”. From being a goalkeeper in football, the boy's coach saw his potential to be a remarkable wicket keeper in cricket. So he changed his ways, even becoming a ticket collector to strive for his ultimate goal and the rest is history. Well you know who we’re talking about, it’s none other than, our own Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni’s story was just like those shown in the movies. Hitting rock bottom early on and rising from that setback to achieving the greatest of heights one could imagine. Except for the fact that this wasn’t a movie but the real life of India’s greatest captain to have led the side.

Back in 2007, the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup was held in South Africa. A young Dhoni was given the captaincy to lead an inexperienced team against the toughest of oppositions in international cricket. After a bad outing in the then-recently concluded World Cup, India wasn’t expected to pull off a great show in the T20 tournament. But, Dhoni led his troops with sheer confidence and a cool head, beating arch-rivals Pakistan in the famous “bowl out” to win the game after a tie.

They even defeated the mighty Aussies in the semi-final to enter the final of the inaugural edition of the ICC championship. India faced Pakistan one more time at the grand stage where they were just one win away from writing history.

Even in the final, A part of the title win was Dhoni’s brilliant strategies and field placements. He backed Joginder Sharma for the last over and we all remember that scoop from Misbah-ul-Haq which went straight into the hands of S. Sreesanth after which India became the first-ever ICC World T20 Champions! This changed the course of Indian cricket in the years that followed.

Soon after the tournament, Rahul Dravid announced that he was going to step down as the captain which made Dhoni the obvious choice to take up the vacant position in the ODI format. A year later, he led the team in the whites after Kumble gave up the spot.

Dhoni’s captaincy had a flavor of calmness that swiftly used to take over the opposition. He was absolutely brilliant in the Test format as India rose to the number 1 spot in the ICC Test team rankings in December 2009, a reign which continued for 18 months!

In the 2011 ICC World Cup, India played as one of the hosts and everyone had hopes that the 28-year-long wait for another World title would end here. The team showed great determination throughout the tournament, different players stepped in each match with Yuvraj Singh being the most consistent one. The team reached the final after beating Pakistan in the semi-final and clashed against Sri Lanka to get their hands on the championship for the second time in history. India had just lost one game to South Africa in the league stages before entering the final.

Although Dhoni didn’t fire big in the matches played until the last and the most crucial match of the tournament, he truly saved his best when the team needed the most. In a tricky situation in the game, when the set batsmen had gotten out, Captain cool kept his nerves and took the team all the way to victory by scoring 91 runs.

He finished the game in the fashion that Dhoni’s known for, a six off the bowling of Kulasekara, and India became the World Champions after almost 3 decades! 2 years later, the ICC Champions Trophy returned which was held in England and Wales.

This tournament saw the rise of a game-changing opening duo for India in white-ball cricket. Dhoni’s masterstroke of pushing Rohit Sharma up the order paid off amazingly as he went on to cement his place as one of the greatest opening batsmen in World cricket. Dhoni also backed up Shikhar Dhawan who filled the spot as a consistent batsman at the top order.

India played like champions with clinical wins match after match in the championship. In the rain-affected final reduced to 20 overs against England, India was defending a low total and the game right down to the last over. Dhoni chose Ashwin to bowl the over and once again, the skipper’s choice didn’t go wrong. India won the ICC Champions Trophy and Dhoni registered himself as the kingpin of captains to have ever led India.

When on one hand, Dhoni was taking India to make a big name in limited-overs cricket, the team started to tumble in the longest format of the game. It first started with a 2-1 loss to England in 2012-13, their first home series defeat after 8 years. The next few years saw a rough patch with India consecutively losing series in New Zealand, South Africa, England, and Australia. Although Dhoni personally held his bat in front of the swinging conditions of England, it wasn’t good enough to pull India out of a series defeat. However, Dhoni retired from Test cricket with 27 Test wins as the captain, the most by any Indian to date.

Under Dhoni, India won all the major ICC trophies - World Cup, T20 World Cup, and the Champions Trophy. They also finished as the finalist in the 2014 ICC T20 World Cup, and as the semi-finalists in the 2015 ICC World Cup and the 2016 ICC T20 World Cup under his leadership.

There is no one who even comes close to the temperament of Dhoni, his calmness, the way he pushed his players forward, and his decision-making skills at key moments in the game. The DRS was even called out as Dhoni Review System for its accuracy in tsking the referrals. Dhoni’s legacy will always be imprinted on the heart of every cricket fan. Here we present Dhoni’s biggest accolades during his reign as the Indian captain.

• Most matches as a wicket-keeper captain in Tests (60)

• 8th most number of Test matches as captain (60)

• Most number of matches as a wicket-keeper captain in ODIs (200)

• 7th highest number of consecutive ODI matches played as captain (69)

• Most number of matches as a wicket-keeper batsman in T20Is (72)

• Most matches played as a T20I captain (72)

• 7th highest number of consecutive T20I matches played as captain (69)

• Most matches played as captain across all three formats (332)

MS Dhoni Captaincy Debut

MS Dhoni made his captaincy debut against Scotland in the 2007 ICC T20 World Cup on 13 September 2007, but the game ended in a no result.

MS Dhoni Test Career as Captain

Dhoni took over India’s captaincy in the year 2008 after Kumble relinquished the position. As the leader, he started off brilliantly by winning the first 4 Tests played against South Africa, Australia, and England in the home series. He played 60 Tests as the skipper and won 27 of those, the most by an Indian Test captain.

MS Dhoni ODI Captaincy Record

Dhoni was handed the responsibility to lead the Indian line-up after Dravid vacated the spot in 2007. He had a long captaincy career, spanning over a decade in which he led the side to win the major ICC titles. The country won 110 matches out of the 200 games that MS captained in the ODI format.

MS Dhoni T20 Captaincy Record

Dhoni was asked to fill the role of the skipper at a tricky time. The T20 format was new and he was asked to represent the national team in the inaugural world tournament, leading a bunch of promising young players. He set the tone for his captaincy career by winning the T20 World Cup, where they had only lost one game to New Zealand in the league stage before the victory against Pakistan in the final. He played 72 games as captain, he won 41 of those at a win percentage of 56.9%.

MS Dhoni captaincy record in World Cup

Dhoni has been the most successful Captain at the grandest stage of them all, the ICC World Cup! He led them to a World Cup for the first time in 2011 and India ended up as the champions for the second time after the 1983 triumph under Kapil Dev. He then captained in the 2015 edition as well where India reached the semi-final but lost to the hosts, Australia.

MS Dhoni Captaincy record in T20 World Cup

Dhoni’s captaincy journey started from the inaugural edition of the ICC T20 World Cup held in 2007. Even when the odds were not in favor, Dhoni’s men emerged victorious over big teams and went on to stand at the podium to be called champions. He then captained in 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, and 2016 editions as well where the team reached the finals in 2014 and the semi-finals in the 2016 tournament.

MS Dhoni captaincy record in Asia Cup

MS Dhoni has captained 3 Asia Cups and won the 2010 edition as well. The team has a win % of 69.23 with 9 victories in 13 matches.

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Pakistan

India vs Pakistan has always been volatile and a crunch encounter for every cricket fan. Under Dhoni’s leadership, India was always on the favored side to end up winning. Dhoni had a prolific record against the arch-rivals in the ODI and T20I format as captain.

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Pakistan in ODI

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Pakistan in T20

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Australia

Dhoni has captained India against Australia in 83 matches across the three formats. He has been quite brilliant against the Kangaroos in the Test and the T20 format with a win percentage over 55.

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Australia in tests

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Australia in ODI

MS Dhoni captaincy record against Australia in T20