Touted as the best Indian captain to ever play the game, MS Dhoni aka Mahi aka Captain Cool has been a messiah for the Indian cricket fans. Entertaining the Indians and fans across the globe, Dhoni turned the Indian Cricket team – a brand! He not only won with his calmness but also with his belligerent brand of cricket. Cometh the hour, cometh the man, was Dhoni’s style of cricket.
Dhoni has been the most successful captain for some time now, with three International Cricket Council (ICC) trophies under his belt. He won the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2011, and the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy in 2013.
Making his debut for the men in blue in 2004, MSD went on to play 350 ODIs for India. He has scored 10,773 runs which consist of 10 hundred and 73 half-centuries. He also played 90 Tests where he has 4,876 runs under his belt. He has 6 tons and 33 fifties.
It’s not enough to put Dhoni’s contribution towards Indian Cricket on paper, but no doubt he made watching cricket exhilarating. Be it his subtle sledging or be it his obliterating finishing sixes, MSD was, is, and always be every Indian’s favourite role model.
Here are some lesser-known facts about Captain Cool:
- The most sponsored athlete in India: MS Dhoni is the highest-paid athlete in India to date and the most sponsored. He is among the top 10 globally for having the highest brand value.
- The highest-paid cricketer in Indian Premier League (IPL) history: Former captain of the Indian cricket team MS Dhoni has emerged as the highest-paid player in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He was the highest-paid player in the inaugural edition of the cash-rich league as well. He was bought by Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a whopping 12.6 Crores.
- MSD was the first Indian cricketer to win the ICC Player of the Year twice: Since its inception, Dhoni became the first Indian cricketer to win the award and also the first to win twice. He won the first in 2008 and another in 2009.
- He has a higher net value than Sachin Tendulkar: The most sponsored Indian cricketer, MSD has a higher net worth than the legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar. As per Forbes list in 2018, Dhoni was higher in the list (fifth) than Little Master Sachin. MSD’s net worth then was Rs 101.77 crore.
- The Jharkhand cricketer is the only wicketkeeper-batsman to score a Test double century in a day. Dhoni struck a double century at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai where he scored 224 against Australia in 2013. His 206 runs on the second day of the Test match is the highest by a wicketkeeper-batsman on a single day in a test match.
- Dhoni became the first player ever to score 10,000 runs in ODIs with an average above 50. MSD has 10773 runs under his belt, averaging at a staggering rate of 50.53.
- The former skipper has the most hundreds batting at number 7. The first of which came in Afro-Asia Cup in 2007 where he came in at 72/5 but helped India to 331/8 in 50 overs. The second-century was against Pakistan in 2012 where he came to bat with India languishing at 29/5. His unbeaten 113 off 125 balls took the team to 227/6 in 50 overs.
