“When it comes to luck, you make your own.” This quote by Bruce Springsteen sits quite well with Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Some of his most momentous on-field decisions, which turned out to be fruitful, were termed fortuitous – be it handing over the ball to Joginder Sharma for the last over of the 2007 World T20 final against Pakistan, promoting himself up the order and hammering an unbeaten 91 in the World Cup 2011 final against Sri Lanka, or getting Hardik Pandya to bowl to bowl the final over against Bangladesh in the World T20 2016.
But when the rub of the green didn’t go his way – the third ODI against Australia in Mohali in 2013 and the group match against England in the World T20 2009, when his decision to promote Ravindra Jadeja up the batting order proved disastrous, his tactical nous was put under the scanner, as if misfortune is a misnomer when it comes to Dhoni.
However, his sterling limited-overs record as a captain over the last nine years is a compelling testament of the fact that there was more to Dhoni’s success than just luck. He’s the only captain to win the World Cup, the World T20 and the Champions Trophy titles. Throw in the Asia Cup and the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia in 2008, and it almost seems like he encompassed the entire spectrum in limited-overs as a captain. But there are a few sore points too – be it ignominiously crashing out of World T20 tournaments in 2009 and 2010, or losing ODI series 4-0 and 2-0 against New Zealand and South Africa respectively in their backyard.
As a captain, Dhoni was never shy of making going against the grain and making bold decisions, be it his on-field tactics or team selection. His axing of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid from the ODI team ahead of the Commonwealth Bank tri-series in Australia in 2008 kicked up an uproar, but India eventually went on to win the title. Dhoni at that time felt that India needed to build a young team for the 2011 World Cup, where each member is supremely fit. His unswerving support to Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja in the nascent stage of their careers, despite many failures, raised many an eyebrow.
During post-match press conferences, he was never short of sprightly zingers and at times even took swipes at journalists, especially if India had lost the match. “That’s why you should watch the game. What went wrong you would have realised,” is how he responded when a journalist, after a crushing defeat, asked him what went wrong. On another occasion, he said, “I won’t count it as a bad performance. It was so bad that I can’t count it as a performance.”
Statistically, he is the most successful Indian skipper in limited overs. Out of the 199 ODIs in which he captained India, the team won 110. Only Ricky Ponting has won more ODIs than him as a captain (165 out of 230). Third in the list is Allan Border with 107 victories out of 178 matches. Among Indian captains, Mohammad Azharuddin is next to Dhoni with 90 wins out of 174 ODIs. His winning ratio (1.486) is fifth best among captains who have won at least 75 ODIs. Among Indian captains, it is the best.
Outside home, Dhoni won 67 out of 126 matches, which is second only to Ponting (104 out of 141). His winning ratio (1.395) is the sixth best among captains who have won at least 50 ODIs outside home. Among Indian captains, Sourav Ganguly is at the second place, after Dhoni, with 58 matches out of 111 (winning ratio is 1.208).
In the T20I format, Dhoni holds the record of winning the highest number of matches as a captain (41 out of 72). He is followed by Darren Sammy. Outside home too, Dhoni has won most number of T20Is (31 out of 52).
As a captain, Dhoni has scored the second-highest number of runs in ODIs (6,633 at 53.92). Ponting is the leading light with 8,497 runs at 42.91. Among all captains with over 5,000 ODI runs, Dhoni’s average is the best of the lot.
As a wicket-keeper captain, Dhoni leads the chart as the highest run-scorer (6,633 runs at 53.92) in ODIs. Kumar Sangakkara is at second place with 1,756 at 47.45.
As an ODI captain, Dhoni won 15 Man-of-the-Match awards and is at second place. Sanath Jayasuriya, Ponting and Arjuna Ranatunga jointly occupy the top slot with 19. Dhoni’s four Man-of-the-Series awards as ODI captain put him at second place after Ponting (7). Surprisingly, Dhoni has not won a single Man-of-the-Match Award as a T20I captain.
If you take into account all the facets of his limited-overs career – his quicksilver wicket-keeping, his innovatively audacious batting and, of course, his outstanding record as a captain – it won’t be a hyperbole to state that he ranks as the best limited-overs cricketer India has ever produced, along with Sachin Tendulkar.