Name: Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Born July 7, 1981, Ranchi, Bihar
Current age 24 years 100 days
Major teams India, Jharkhand
Also known as Mahi
Batting style Right-hand bat
Fielding position Wicketkeeper
captain of Indian Cricket team
The spectacular arrival of Virender Sehwag was bound to inspire others to bat with the same mindset. But the odds of a clone emerging from the backwaters of Jharkhand, whose state side has consistently scraped the bottom, was highly remote. That was until Mahendra Singh Dhoni arrived. He can be swashbuckling with the bat and secure with the wicketkeeping gloves. His neck-length hair adds to his dash. Though Dhoni made his first-class debut in the 1999-2000 season, it was only in 2004 that he became a serious contender for national selection with some stirring performances when the occasion demanded - a rapid hundred which helped East Zone clinch the Deodhar Trophy and an audacious 60 in the Duleep Trophy final. But it was with his two centuries against Pakistan A, in the triangular tournament in Kenya, that he established himself as a clinical destroyer of bowling attacks. In just his fifth one-dayer, against Pakistan at Vishakapatnam, he cracked a dazzling 148 and for a while even put Sehwag in the shade
Dhoni being The captain of Indias o.d.i side before that India Wins T20 world cup 2007 at soutafeica under Dhoni's captains
Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a huge step toward one of the biggest jobs in world cricket on Tuesday when he was named captain of India for its series of one-day matches against Australia and Pakistan, to be played over the next two months.
Dhoni, 26, who is leading India in the Twenty20 World Cup in South Africa, can make a strong case for also taking charge of the five-day test team if he performs well in the one-day matches. The job carries the pressure of meeting the expectations of India's huge population for its highest-profile national sport but also the prospect of great wealth.
India's next five-day series, against Pakistan, does not start until Nov. 22. The alternative to Dhoni is believed to be Sachin Tendulkar, India's greatest contemporary cricketing hero, who was only moderately successful when he captained the team in 25 tests from 1996 to 2002.
India's chairman of selectors, Dilip Vengsarkar, said of Dhoni, "He is a good captain, and this is the right time to groom him."
Dhoni's ferocious middle-order hitting has given him a high media profile and made him a highly effective one-day player. At one time, he was rated the best one-day international batsman in the world.
The main risk in appointing him to the five-day role would be that he is also a wicket-keeper, carrying an immense physical and psychological weight as the only man actively engaged in every single delivery in opposition innings that often extend over more than a day's play.
The vacancy was created by Rahul Dravid's resignation last week. World Cup years always bring their crop of captaincy changes. Inzamam ul-Haq and Brian Lara stepped down as captains of Pakistan and West Indies; Habibul Bashar lost the leadership of Bangladesh; and England finally concluded that Michael Vaughan's undoubted leadership qualities were outweighed by his limitations as a player in the shorter form of the game.
Dravid had survived India's miserable World Cup, where it was eliminated by Bangladesh, and led it to a series victory in England. His own form as a batsman had suffered, though. After scoring 87 runs per innings on previous visits to England, his average dropped to 25, and in the final test, he played one of the slowest innings in test cricket history, scoring only 12 runs in more than two and a half hours.
A consummate team player who never actively sought the captaincy, Dravid said he had stopped enjoying the job.
His was the second surprise departure in a week. Steven Fleming's replacement as captain of New Zealand by Daniel Vettori was a still greater shock. Fleming had come to look like the single fixed point in an ever-changing world. Not many captains get to lead their country in two World Cups. Fleming had done it in three, taking his team into the final four for the second time in West Indies this year.
The consensus pick as the world's shrewdest captain, he turned a squad of solid rather than brilliant performers into a tough, highly competitive team. Only quick bowler Shane Bond, on the rare occasions when he is fully fit, would be a serious contender for a World XI.
Fleming had led New Zealand in 80 five-day tests, second only to the record of 93 by Allan Border of Australia, and a record 218 one-day internationals.
Fleming chose to stand down as one-day captain but would happily have continued in the longer format. New Zealand's selectors have decided, though, to appoint Vettori.
It is an intriguing appointment. Selectors are often wary of bowlers as captains. That is because the most important single element in captaincy is deciding who should bowl at any given time, making it hard to detach personal from team considerations.
It is not hard to see, though, why New Zealand has long seen captaincy material in Vettori. He is an astute, intelligent cricketer who contests the title of the best slow left-arm bowler with Monty Panesar of England and has also, by playing sensibly within his limitations, developed his batting to the point where he is little short of being classified as an all-rounder.
He combines the air of the enthusiastic student with that of the hard-bitten veteran for the simple reason that he genuinely does have something of both. He is still only 28 but has been playing test cricket for a decade, taking 229 wickets in 73 five-day tests.
The World is under the feet of Dhoni
London, April 20
Swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni today became the world’s top batsman in one-day rankings with a phenomenal average of 52.76 and an awesome strike-rate of 103.Dhoni, who was placed second behind Ricky Ponting before the two-match one-day series against Pakistan, displaced the Australian captain from the top spot after his fine knock of 59 in the second match in Abu Dhabi.The 24-year-old Jharkhand player, who made his ODI debut in December, 2004, has made a remarkably rapid rise with his statistics providing compelling support for his position on top of the ODI charts released by the ICC today.
Since making his debut, Dhoni has played in 42 matches and has scored two hundreds and eight fifties.
Dhoni is one of three India batsmen in the top 10 places with captain Rahul Dravid ninth (up two places) and Yuvraj Singh (10th) also featuring
Dhoni's best performance for India thus far was an unbeaten score of 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31 October 2005, equalling the second best score by an Indian in ODIs. It was also the highest innings recorded by a wicket-keeper, and the highest number of sixes in an innings for a wicketkeeper with ten (all-rounders Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi have hit 11). He also broke Saeed Anwar's record of most runs scored off boundaries by scoring a total of 120 runs off 4s and 6s eclipsing the previous record of 118. This has broken the record for the highest individual score for a team batting second. This has also established the new Indian record of number of sixes in a match, overtaking previous record holders, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (both hit seven 6's in a match). Earlier, in 2005 he scored 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam, in his fifth one-day international; the score came off only 123 deliveries.
At the end of the year Dhoni was rewarded a BCCI contract, starting with a B-grade contract
Dhoni's current batting average in ODIs is just over 50 (as of April 2006), the highest by any Indian player with more than 20 innings. With a career ODI batting strike rate of more than 100 he remains the only batsman with the unique double of a 50+ average scored at more than a run a ball. Currently, Dhoni has one of the highest strike rates in the world (103.00 runs per hundred balls). With 44 sixes in 38 ODI innings, Dhoni has hit more sixes than he's played international matches.
Following his good one-day form against Sri Lanka, he ousted Dinesh Karthik in December 2005 as the Indian Test wicketkeeper. Shoaib gave him a bouncer first up which surprised Dhoni and in his follow through Shoaib told him exactly what he thought of him. His reply was to hit Shoaib for 42 runs (5 fours and a six) of 28 deliveries from Shoaib and made his maiden Test century against Pakistan in the 2nd Test at Faisalabad in January 2006, reaching the landmark in just 93 balls. Shoaib at one stage of that innings got hit for 3 fours off 4 balls and therefore bowled a full toss at chest height; and it was Dhoni's turn to have a word or two. In total he made a 148 in that match of 153 balls; 19 fours and 4 sixes. Dhoni's career batting average at the end of the ODI series against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi stands at 52.76, which is the fourth highest for any batsman having scored at least 1,000 runs in one-day internationals, behind Australians, Mike Hussey Michael Bevan, and Englishman Kevin Pietersen.
However, in the third Test against England, Dhoni attracted some criticism when losing his wicket after playing an injudicious shot. India went from 75-3 to 100 all out to lose the match .
Just after the 2006 Test match Loss against England,which resulted in a 1-1 levelled series, Dhoni requested for more crowd support and he was obliged with the same, the team going to win the ODI Series that followed the Tests, his fans seem to be increasing by leaps and bounds and is received to a a rousing reception whenever he comes into bat.
As of 22th April 2006, Dhoni ranks number one in the ICC ODI rankings for batsmen, overtaking Australian skipper Ricky Ponting for the top ODI spot.
In the 2006 India tour of the West Indies, where India won the Test series 1-0, Dhoni had a relatively average outing, aggregating a substandard 24.00 with the bat, his only score of note being the belligerent 69 in the first Test at Antigua. He also took 13 catches and had 4 stumpings in the series. India were defeated 4-1 in the ODIs that preceded the Test series, where Dhoni averaged only 23.75, his highest being 46 not out, with 5 catches.
On 31st October 2005 Mahendra Dhoni scored 183* runs of just 145 balls, accompanying that there are a list of records which he broke
He hit 10 Sixes, the most by an Indian in an Innings, and the second highest in ODI cricket (The highest is 11 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi)
He broke Adam Gilchrist's record of 172 for the highest score made by a wicket keeper
He is the second highest in scoring maximum runs in boundaries after Herchelle Gibbs of South Africa
In this match Kumar Sangakkara also made a century, making it the first match in which both wicket keepers scored a century
He has an average of 48.89 giving him the 4th highest average in the world overall
The highest Indian average
Highest average for a wicketkeeper.
2nd Highest average among those who have made more than 1200 runs in one day international cricket
Highest strike rate among the top 5 averages
He has a strike rate of 100.96 giving him the sixth highest strike rate overall
The highest by an Indian
The 4th highest among players who have made more than 1000 runs in International Cricket
In April 2006 Dhoni was briefly ranked No.1 in the ICC one day Batsmen's ratings. He is currently ranked No. 4 after a poor series in the West Indies.
Statistics are true as of 30/4/06
Dhoni finds a fan in Ramdev
Indian cricket's goldilocks is sure going places. And has loads of admirers and land too. All for a just cause.
After Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, Jharkhand's brightest star Mahendra Singh Dhoni got a new admirer in yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Thursday. The baba, conducting a yoga camp here, handed over papers for a 5,000 square-foot plot in a prime location at the request of chief minister Arjun Munda.
The state government has gifted the land to the wicket-keeper. Hailing Dhoni's efforts, Ramdev said, "Dhoni ne balle se bhuton ko dhoya hai. (Dhoni was purged the ghosts with his bat)."
Saying Dhoni was the country's pride, he advised him to do yoga. On a lighter vein, he added, "Some people like Pervez Musharraf freak out on his lustrous locks and some on his game."
However, he said Dhoni's self-determination was more important than his hair. "Dhoni did not become a star cricketer in a day or two. It must have taken him a long time. Similarly, people should do yoga with strong will power," he added. Dhoni, along with his parents, sought the guru's blessings. The guru, in turn, appealed to children to emulate the cricketer."
MR. Inzamam UL Huk
(former captain of pak team says)
Lahore, February 21
"Having suffered from his blade in the just-concluded series, Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul Haq today described Mahendra Singh Dhoni as “murderous” and a player to be watched in the 2007 World Cup.
The Indian wicket-keeper, who blasted away 219 runs in the four innings of the five-match series at a stupendous strike rate of 137, “is safe behind the wickets and can be compared with Adam Gilchrist though the Australian has proved himself as the best after years in commission”, Inzamam told PTI in an interview here.
On a high following his team’s brilliant performances in the past one year, Inzamam finds himself to be the target of criticism after losing the ODI series by a comprehensive 4-1 to India. Suddenly his tactics and everything else he did during the series are being faulted.
But the burly Pakistani is unruffled as he always is at the crease. His team lost to a much superior foe, he admits.
Is he angry? “I control my anger. If someone drops a catch and I get angry, will that catch come back to us? It won’t. Therefore it is better to be cool because that helps in better performance”, he said.
Despite the ODI series loss to India, Inzamam believes that the Pakistani team has become much better in the past two years. “When India came here in 2004, our boys were young and inexperienced. They have since played a lot of cricket in other countries that has given them experience and confidence”, he said.
Analysing the Indian team, Inzamam said that undoubtedly batting was India’s strength as the line-up was very experienced. The bowlers are inexperienced but they are young and talented.
He rates Tendulkar as one of the five best batsmen in the world along with Rahul Dravid, Ricky Ponting, Jacques Kallis and Brian Lara.
Here is Inzamam’s take on the new talent in the Indian team:
Yuvraj Singh: He is an exciting young talent who has now learnt how to finish off games. He has the power to play big shots and is equally clever in finding the gaps to nudge and push the balls for ones and twos. His footwork has improved tremendously ever since I saw him last year. The only time he looks uncomfortable is when he receives short pitched deliveries which we could not bowl as much as we would have liked because of the nature of Test pitches.
M S Dhoni: I can easily pick him as one of the players to be watched in the 2007 World Cup. He is unorthodox but very effective and at times murderous. He is difficult to bowl to because he has this ability to even hit the good balls with a jab shot. He is equally good in horizontal and vertical bat shots. He is safe behind the wickets and can be compared to Adam Gilchrist though the Australian has proved himself as the best after years in commission.
Suresh Raina: I did not get a chance to see him because the Indian top order did not let the pressure come on to Raina and the later order batsmen. But I always believe that only the best players are picked to represent their countries and therefore Raina must be a good cricketer who will improve with every game. But consistency is the key and it applies to both — Raina as well as the selectors.
Irfan Pathan: He is blossoming into an all-rounder India so desperately needed to strike the right balance in one-day cricket. He was always a good bowler who bowled to a teasing line and length but his batting has improved after Greg Chappell threw him in the deep pan and made him realise that he has the ability to graft the innings and at the same time play big shots.
R.P. Singh: A young and committed bowler who bowls with a lot of heart and determination. He is young and will surely gain speed and at the same time will maintain top grade fitness.
With a total of 8,172 Test and 11,251 one-day runs with 25 and 10 centuries, respectively, Inzamam is well on his way to become Pakistan’s greatest batsman.
How would he like to be remembered when he hangs his bat? “If people remember me as one who contributed to Pakistan’s cricket, I will feel good. If people say good things, it makes me feel happy,” he responds shyly.
Batting and fielding averages
Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave BF SR 100 50 4s 6s Ct St
Tests: 43 66 9 2428 148 42.59 3991 60.83 4 17 267 45 113 20
ODIs: 160 141 36 5343 183* 50.88 5989 89.21 7 34 410 110 154 52
T20Is: 20 19 4 356 46 23.73 336 105.95 0 0 23 7 5 2
First-class: 83 131 12 4580 148 38.48 7 31 220 36
List A : 216 193 46 7345 183* 49.96 13 45 221 67
Twenty20: 54 50 15 1225 73* 35.00 973 125.89 0 5 93 39 16 6
Bowling averages: Mat Inns Balls Runs Wkts BBI BBM Ave Econ SR 4w 5w 10
Tests: 43 2 12 14 0 - - - 7.00 - 0 0 0
ODIs : 160 1 12 14 1 1/14 1/14 14.00 7.00 12.0 0 0 0
T20Is 20 - - - - - - - - - - - -
First-class: 83 42 34 0 - - - 4.85 - 0 0 0
List A: 216 39 36 2 1/14 1/14 18.00 5.53 19.5 0 0 0
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