The MSD of Indian and world cricket has been a phenomenon in terms of aggression but simple approach, skillful captaining in all three formats of the game, unorthodox right-handed batsman with raw but powerful strikes, one of the best examples in wicket keeping in Cricket world cup, one of the fastest runners between the wickets and always smiling and collected on the pitch. MSD simplified means the one and only Mahendra Singh Dhoni. On October 15, 2021 in the final of IPL-2021 (Indian Premiere League-2021 season) in Dubai, which was MSD’s 300th match, Dhoni led his franchise CSK (Chennai Super Kings), since 2008, to his fourth championship title by defeating KKR (Kolkata Knight Riders) convincingly by 27 runs. Previous title victories under Dhoni’s captaincy have been in 2010, 2011 and 2018.

There have been rumors in the UAE (United Arab Emirates) about the 40-year-old cricket star retiring after IPL-2021, which seems realistic now that he played his 300th match and also won the title, creating a moment of glory. On coming out However, the unpredictable, when it comes to retirement, cricketer has denied all the rumors and made it clear that if he were not to captain CSK, he would still be available as a player. After the IPL-2021 final match, MS Dhoni also said that with the arrival of two new teams for the IPL-2022 auctions, the best for CSK would naturally be taken into account and that the Indian cricket board , BCCI, would be the final authority to decide on your position or place in the team. If he does retire then we’ve seen the last of MSD here in Dubai and sadly we missed seeing him hit because it wasn’t necessary for him and there was also the rare drop of a catch behind someone who is never known for such lapses. But thankfully , we had seen him again in the role of ‘finisher’ in Qualifier-1, where he scored the required 13 runs in the last over to take CSK straight to the final, defeating DC (Delhi Capitals), the best team. in the points table.

As for the IPL-2021 Final Dhoni, CSK all but sealed the encounter as their top four batsmen took KKR’s breath away, the batting explosion led by opener Faf du Plessis with 86 runs off just 59 balls and significant contributions from the Opener Rituraj Gaikwad, Robin Uthappa and Moeen Ali posted a mammoth total of 192 runs on the board. KKR, the team that performed brilliantly in the UAE stage of the tournament, basically consists of 5-6 contributing players: the two consistent openers of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer, the three spinners of Narine, Chakravarthy and Shakib (a late addition in the absence of the unpredictable Andre Russel), and the pacer Mavi, joined on occasion by the hitter Rana. Everyone else, unfortunately, was more passive than active, including the standouts KKR captain Eoin Morgan and goalkeeper Dinesh Karthik, his obvious inability to lead the team when needed. In the final too, despite an early partnership of 91 runs in good time, the next few batsmen all failed miserably, including Narine, who the team also relies on as a batsman. Also, the point to be made here is that KKR played most of their matches on the relatively slow fields of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, and won most of the low-scoring matches, their trio of spinners and Mavi restricting the oppositions to less than 150 most of the time. The high-scoring match on an easy pitch, CSK’s total score was literally beyond KKR standards.

Going back to the MSD phenomenon, we still remember him as the long-haired young man from a small ranch town in Bihar, enthusiastically running around the field, hitting the ball very hard, holding wickets and even bowling on rare occasions. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was selected for the India squad in 2004 for the shortest format (ODI) and made his Test debut the following year. In 2007 he took over the captaincy from Rahul Dravid in the ODI format and also became test captain in 2008 replacing Anil Kumble. The disastrous result in the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup when India was knocked out at the league stage was a major setback for Dhoni; but in the same year at the inaugural ICC T20 Cricket World Cup, named as their captain as well, Dhoni led the team to their first ICC World Cup by defeating Pakistan in the final. MSD played 90 Tests amassing nearly 5000 runs at a healthy average of 38.6 centuries, a double century (his career high of 224) and 33 fifties. In 2013, under his captaincy, India became the first team in 40 years to have whitewashed Australia 4-0 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy played in India. During his tenure, India was ranked No. 1 in the ICC Test Rankings for the first time. He brought aggressiveness to the team, changing the team’s usual paradigm of ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’ to ‘snatching victory from the jaws of defeat’.

In the ODI format, MSD played 350 matches and amassed over 10000 glorious runs, the fourth Indian to do so, with 10 centuries, 73 half-centuries and an amazing average of 50.53 (his most memorable score of 183 against Sri Lanka in 2005 ). He also became the first goalkeeper in the world to complete 100 stumps. MSD raced to their second ICC World Cup by winning the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup in India holding strong in the Final against Sri Lanka in Mumbai forming a winning partnership with Yuvraj Singh, and the ecstasy that followed that we can never forget. Their third ICC World Cup came in 2013 when India won the ICC Champions Trophy -2013 played in England, first started by the ICC as a knockout tournament and called the Mini World Cup, after 2017 it was replaced by the T20 World Cup) , defeating the hosts in the final who were reduced to 20 overs apiece due to rain showers. So, MSD became the only Indian captain to win all ICC World Cups, apart from two Asian Cup victories. In the T20I format, Dhoni played 98 matches racking up 1612 runs at a healthy average of 37 and two half centuries.

The MSD phenomenon has received high praise both domestically and internationally from famous cricketers. He has earned the title of ‘Captain Cool’ for his straightforwardness and easy manners on the field, and is also known for his ‘helicopter shot’ signifying his raw hitting power and unorthodox approach to the game. He initially started out as a lower order hitter, but was promoted to the higher order thanks to his skill and utility, and then more or less settled into a middle order hitter. He has had the honor of appearing in the ICC World Test IX 3 times as captain, a record 8 times in the ICC World ODI IX of which 5 times as team captain along with ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2008 and in 2009 In India, the modest boy from Ranchi won the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 2007, the Padmashri Indian civilian honors in 2009, and the Padma Bhushan in 2018.

The MSD phenomenon has not been without its ups and downs, criticism, controversy, and unpredictable behavior. He suddenly vacated his ODI format captaincy before one series in 2017 and is still available as a player. Most dramatically, he announced his retirement from Test cricket in the midst of a Test series in Australia in 2014-15, leaving it all in the hands of Virat Kohli. He retired from all formats of international cricket on August 15, 2020, perhaps motivated by his famous run against New Zealand in the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final, for which he failed to “finish” the game and the consequences. of his non-selection for international matches by the BCCI. Dhoni had also been criticized for his move to oust Team India stalwarts one by one bringing in new blood, of course, apparently favoring some players, and lately for his inability to speed up his batting. In the aftermath of the World Cup-2007 disaster for India, Dhoni’s Ranchi residence was vandalized by perhaps disappointed fans. His IPL franchise CSK was involved in a bitter match-fixing controversy which started in 2013 for which the franchise was banned for two years in 2015, with Pune buying Dhoni for one year after that. In 2018 he again led CSK and won the third Championship title that year.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni remains in the United Arab Emirates for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup T20-2021, where he will play his role as a ‘mentor’ or ‘mind conditioner’ for the India team. No one could be better positioned for this role. He is known to be very close to India captain Virat Kohli (who recently announced his resignation as captain of the T20 format after the World Cup), with the latter winning immensely as captain thanks to Dhoni’s on-field guidance as it was MSD. he continues to play for the team in the shorter formats. In reality, no one would ever tire of seeing the MSD phenomenon in some sort of role, playing the field or otherwise. Such is this cricketer who has been continually showered with love and affection across India and elsewhere.

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