Stats: MS Dhoni's T20I career in numbers

When a long-haired casual looking youngster from Ranchi blasted his way into the Indian team and cemented his place, his style of play made headlines around the world.

MS Dhoni's ability to hit sixes at will at any point of a game made him an invaluable asset for the Indian team. And when T20 was introduced, there was little doubt in anyone's mind that Dhoni would not boss the shortest format as well. And as things panned out, he was selected as the captain for the inaugural edition of T20 World Cup and the rest is history.

Here, let us have a glance at MS Dhoni's T20 record and analyse his performance over the years.

MS Dhoni's T20I career stats

MS Dhoni, as a T20 batsman, with a strike rate of 127.09 and just 2 fifties, has never done justice to his calibre. But there have been a lot of factors which have influenced this stat in one way or other. The position he batted and the responsibility he took as a captain were huge factors.

MS Dhoni during his 52* against South Africa

Position-wise stats

MS Dhoni's stats at different batting positions

As we can see, his stats at number 4 are way better than any other slot, but then, he batted mostly at 5 and 6 and hence the number of 50s is not high and so are the overall stats.

Opposition-wise stats

Opponent-wise T20I stats of MS Dhoni

Home-Away stats

Home-Away stats

Captaincy stats

MS Dhoni's captaincy stats in T20Is

Apart from lifting the trophy once, Dhoni took the team to the semi-finals in 2016 and finished as the runner-up in the 2014 edition. Here are his stats in World Cups.

MS Dhoni's captaincy stats in T20 WCs

Having started his captaincy career with a washout against Scotland, Dhoni, the accidental skipper, gave up captaincy at a point when he had already established himself one of the best captains in the shortest format.

He became an overnight star after captaining India to the inaugural T20 World Cup win in 2007. He led a young Indian team to the victory with the help of some street-smart tactics and out of the box thinking. This paved the way for some great moments in Indian cricket which have become a part of the folklore now.

MS Dhoni at a press conference during the WT20 2016

Some other highlights of Dhoni's T20I career:

* He is the fourth highest run scorer for India in T20Is.

* He has the record of captaining in the most number of T20Is.

* He became the first captain to whitewash Australia in Australia in any format of the game in 2016, beating Australia 3-0

* Dhoni's 47 sixes, is the fourth highest for India in T20Is.

* Dhoni's 41 wins as a captain, is the most for any captain in T20Is.

MS Dhoni after winning T20 World Cup 2007

Not to forget his lightning-quick stumpings and humorous chatter from behind the stumps, Dhoni will go down as someone who made India fall for T20.

Now that MS has been dropped for the upcoming T20I series against West Indies and Australia, it is highly unlikely we will see him in T20Is again. But let us take a moment and thank the big man for his contribution towards the game, towards Indian cricket and for the unforgettable memories he has given over the years, for carrying a billion burdens for so long.