Mahendra Singh Dhoni changed Indian cricket forever. With his intellectual captaincy and outstanding temperament, he guided the Indian National Cricket Team to new heights after growing under the guidance of Sourav Ganguly. Apart from that, the number of trophies he has won for India, as well as the number of nearly-lost matches he has turned around, is astounding. Dhoni was the unsung hero behind the scenes who transformed India’s limited-overs cricket.
He almost never lost faith in a player early on. He’d play a few games with them before picking up the phone. Although it may not have occurred with all of Dhoni’s players, the former India captain is famed for his ability to trust and support his teammates.
MS Dhoni will be remembered as one of the greatest international captains of all time. There has never been any skipper who has won all three International Cricket Council (ICC) titles (T20 World Cup, 50-overs World Cup, and Champions Trophy). He also holds the record for the most appearances as an international captain (332 games across all three formats). The Ranchi native captained India for a decade before handing over the leadership to Virat Kohli.
Virat Kohli
Kohli, despite his immense potential, was struggling to consistently score runs early in his career. His 2011 visit to England was a failure. MS Dhoni, on the other hand, believed in his ability and kept him in the squad. Kohli went on to become the top batsman in the world in all formats. Virat Kohli has been in outstanding form for a long time. The consistency with which he has been scoring runs in all three formats is astounding. This may not have been possible without MS Dhoni’s unwavering support.
Kohli was on the edge of being dropped after a couple of Test matches in Australia in 2011-12. Dhoni, on the other hand, stood with the Delhi guy, and it paid off. MS Dhoni influenced Virat Kohli’s development as a complete batsman. It might have been a different story if Mahendra Singh Dhoni had not recognized his potential, particularly in the red-ball format. Virat Kohli has steadily improved since then, helping India reach new heights.
Ravindra Jadeja
Ravindra Jadeja has played international cricket for more than a decade. He has, however, been subjected to a great deal of criticism throughout the years. He never took the world by storm, but he contributed with his bat, ball, and fielding skills. MS Dhoni believed in Jadeja’s ability with the bat and ball. He even requested that CSK acquire him in the IPL for a high price. Ravindra Jadeja had earned his trust. He was left out of the 2011 World Cup squad. He did, however, become a regular part of the white-ball teams after that. In white-ball cricket, he forged a good partnership with Ravichandran Ashwin while Harbhajan Singh faded. With the bat, he was also quite effective.
Suresh Raina
During MS Dhoni’s stint as the team’s captain, Raina was always a go-to guy. Under MS Dhoni’s leadership, the flashy batsman has performed admirably for India, particularly during vital stages of the game. Suresh Raina was frequently encouraged by Dhoni to continue in the team, especially in the limited-overs format. In addition, the two play together in the IPL. As a result, Raina had a lot of support. In the 2011 World Cup quarter-final and semi-final, the left-handed middle-order batsman scored some crucial runs. Raina’s five ODI hundreds have all come under Dhoni’s leadership, and his ODI average has also improved under the former Indian captain. Dhoni once said, “He’s the best that we have got and we need to back him. Because if we don’t back him, the new guy who comes in will say: ‘I don’t want to play shots. I’ll make 25 runs and go home not out’.
Rohit Sharma
The wonderful transformation tale of India opener Rohit Sharma was documented in the year 2013. Before 2013, Rohit averaged 30.43 runs per innings in ODIs. Rohit Sharma was the second-best run-scorer in the world in 2013 at the end of the calendar year. After a protracted slump, Rohit was given another chance to open the batting in 2013, and that opportunity radically altered his ODI batting stats. Rohit Sharma has gone from a struggling batsman to a tremendously productive batter. And Dhoni, the genius, had a hand in it. Rohit Sharma has never looked back since then, and his standing as a cricketer has risen dramatically.
