MS Dhoni completes 15 years in international cricket

MS Dhoni, who made his One-Day International (ODI) debut on Dec. 23, 2004, completed 15 years in international cricket on Monday.

His maiden match for India was against Bangladesh at Chattogram. A 23-year-old Dhoni, hailing from a small town of Ranchi, walked in at No. 7 after India were put to bat first. Unfortunately, Dhoni had a forgettable start to his international career as he got out for a golden duck but India won the match by 11 runs. The entire series was an ordinary one for the newcomer as Dhoni managed only 19 runs in three matches.

He, however, announced his arrival in the home series against Pakistan in April 2005. Dhoni, who made his debut under the captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, was then promoted to bat at NO. 3 for the first time in Vizag. The wicketkeeper-batsman, Dhoni destroyed the Pakistan bowling attack as he hammered the memorable 123-ball 148.

Over the years, Dhoni has altered Team India into one of the most successful limited-overs sides in world cricket. When the inaugural T20 World Cup was scheduled for 2007, all the senior players backed off and the selectors handed the young Indian team to Dhoni.

Against the expectations, Dhoni's new Team India clinched the maiden T20 World Cup in South Africa and there began a new era in Indian cricket, whose vital part was Dhoni.

He never looked back from then and rest is history!

Dhoni went go on to destroy all the records set by previous Indian skippers, especially Ganguly, across formats. Dhoni went on to become the greatest Indian captain and arguably the best in the world too. He remains the only skipper to have won all the ICC tournaments - Cricket World Cup, T20 World Cup and Champions Trophy and also led India to No 1 spot in Test cricket, which happened in 2009.

"Dhoni finishes off in style. A magnificent strike into the crowd! India lift the World Cup after 28 years!" - This piece of commentary by Ravi Shastri on Dhoni will never ever be forgotten by the cricket fraternity. Shastri was in the commentary box when the Indian skipper led from the front in the World Cup 2011 final against Sri Lanka on April 2.

India won the coveted trophy after a wait of 28 years and it was none other than Dhoni, who hit the winning runs and in style. Dhoni smashed a humongous six to finish off the job as India defeated Sri Lanka in front of thousands of home fans at the Wankhede stadium. With that six, he fulfilled dreams of infinite fans across the nation, including the great Sachin Tendulkar. The Master Blaster, who was a part of the World cup-winning captain, had several prestigious records to his name but was eluded of the World Cup glory.

The 38-year-old, who retired from Test cricket in December 2014, has represented India in 90 Tests, 350 ODIs and 98 T20Is, having scored 4876, 10773 and 1617 runs respectively.

The two-time World Cup winners, India, lost to New Zealand in the semi-final earlier this year in the World Cup. Dhoni, who failed to replicate his 2011 final heroics, could not finish off the job this time as he got run out when the team needed him to stay till the end.

Since the World Cup in England in July, Dhoni has not returned to action and has kept the country guessing about his future plans.