Last week Mahindra Singh Dhoni, one of India’s most successful batsmen and captains, announced his retirement from international cricket.

Dhoni finished his ODI career with 10773 runs, scored at an average of 50.57. He struck 10 centuries. In 90 Test matches, he scored 4876 runs, averaging 38.09 with six hundred and 33 half-centuries. In Twenty20 Internationals, he made 1617 runs at an average of 37.60.

Only Virat Kohli, India’s current captain, has a higher average than Dhoni’s 50.57 in ODIs among those who have scored 10,000 or more runs in ODI cricket.

The Indian cricket board (BCCI) surprisingly selected then 26-year-old wicketkeeper batsman Dhoni as captain in 2007 after Rahul Dravid stepped down after India had crashed out of the World Cup in the first round.

Dhoni immediately made a difference and in his first major assignment led India to the first World T20 title in South Africa in 2007.

He went on to win a triangular series in Australia for the first time in 2007-08, the Compaq Cup in 2009, Asia Cup in 2010, the 50-overs World Cup in 2011 and the Champions Trophy in 2013.

Apart from these triumphs for his country, he also won IPL and Champions League for Chennai Super Kings.

Dhoni is the only captain to have led India to ODI and T20I series wins in Australia, and an ODI series win in New Zealand.

Besides, India remained the No 1 team in Test cricket between December 2009 and August 2011 under his captaincy.

In cricket, the role of the captain is of immense importance. A good captain is one who can use his bowlers smartly, set fields appropriately and is able to deal with various conditions and situations.

Dhoni is regarded as “Captain Cool” as he never seemed to lose hope and never surrendered. He showed his maturity and self-confidence in high-pressure situations.

In January 2017, Dhoni stepped down as the captain of the one-day and Twenty20 sides.

He is India’s most successful Test captain, with 27 wins, 18 defeats and 15 draws. Overall, he led India in 60 Test matches, the highest for any Indian captain, but of the 30 Tests played abroad he won only six. India lost 15 overseas Tests under Dhoni.

Dhoni suddenly announced his retirement from Test cricket during the 2014 Australia tour, not even waiting for the series to end. He said he wanted to concentrate on shorter versions of the game and would continue to lead in one-dayers and Twenty20 Internationals.

He faced a lot of criticism when India were routed 4-0 in England in 2011, and he was also the captain for the tour of Australia when India were whitewashed in a four-match series in 2011-12.

Criticism became harsher when India were beaten 2-1 by England in 2015, their first series loss to the Englishmen on home soil since 1984-85.

The defeat against arch-rivals Pakistan in the home ODI series created more problems for him and some people started weighing the option of making young Kohli the leader.

Dhoni led India in a record 332 international matches: 200 ODIs, 72 T20I and 60 Tests. He is also the second most successful captain in limited-overs international matches with 151 wins after Australia’s Ricky Ponting’s 172.

The 39-year-old wicketkeeper won three ICC tournaments for India. Only former Australia skipper Ponting won more ICC titles than Dhoni.

In the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017 when Pakistan beat India in the final, criticism from all over India started. Critics and fans wanted senior players like Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni to leave.

Without any doubt, Dhoni was the most successful chaser for his team. On 47 occasions, he remained unbeaten in successful chases in ODIs. South Africa’s Jonty Rhodes is second with 33 not-outs in successful chases.

But at the end of his glorious career, Dhoni was no longer the finisher that he was. He failed to finish matches with the calmness which was his trademark.

Dhoni is only the second wicketkeeper-batsman to score over 10,000 runs. Sangakkara scored 14,234 runs.

Dhoni also proved his skills in wicket-keeping. He was the fourth wicketkeeper to complete 300 ODI catches. The first three were Adam Gilchrist (417), Mark Boucher (403) and Kumar Sangakkara (402).

He finished with 444 ODI dismissals, third highest. His 123 stumps in ODIs and 34 in the T20I are the most by any wicketkeeper.

khurrams87@yahoo.com