Ms. Dhoni: the hero

Dhoni grew up in MECON Colony at Ranchi, went to DAV Jawahar Vidya Mandir school, and worked as a ticket collector in the Indian Railways.

The Prime Minister addressed Dhoni as ‘Dear Mahendra’ and called him “one of the important illustrations of the spirit of New India where family name does not make young people’s destiny ”.

Rising from humble beginnings in a small town, you burst onto the national scene, made a name for yourself and most importantly made India proud… Where we come from does not matter as long as we know where we are headed – this is the spirit that you have exuded and inspired many youngsters with.

One of the most admired and respected cricketers, Dhoni is also among the most successful captains in world cricket. It was under his leadership that India lifted the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011 after having led India to triumph in the ICC World T20 in its maiden edition of the tournament held in 2007 in South Africa. With India winning the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013 in England, Dhoni became the first and is still the only captain till date to have won all three ICC Trophies.

While his heroics in the limited-overs formats are well documented, it was also under his leadership that India became the No. 1 Test side in 2009 and the team stayed at the top for over 600 days. He has led India to victory in 21 home Test matches, the most by an Indian captain.

Leaving behind a rich legacy that will be difficult to replicate, Dhoni holds the record for most international matches as captain (332). Unarguably the quickest man behind the wicket, Dhoni has 195 international stumpings, the most by any wicket-kee per.