International Cricket and M S Dhoni - Part 1

And at last the pressure of international cricket has shown on Dhoni. He has been in this international arena for quite a bit now. And up to some extent, it certainly is the quantity of the time for which he is fatigued. To add to that, are the expectations and the hopes of the captain leading from the front. Moreover, it is all about the pressure – the pressure to perform, live up to the expectations of his fans and of course the mind games.

Professional History of M S Dhoni

Having been arguably the only stumper to have the highest individual score and remaining not out too, M S Dhoni would have almost scored the first ever double century in ODIs, had he got the chance to play at least one over more. Not only is that Dhoni’s that knock the highest score ever scored in the history of the ODIs while chasing by a wicketkeeper batsman. Having earned the tag of a ‘finisher’ and one who starts scoring from a particular point of time, he has played some great and memorable knocks. His entry in the Indian team has helped bolster the batting line up. And soon enough he was given the opportunity to lead the Men in Blue.

He proved it not too late as well. His greatest satisfying performances, if asked, might be the lifting of the inaugural edition of the T20 Cup in South Africa in 2007. Then in 2008 a double success was in the wings for Dhoni – an extraordinary successful tour against Australia in Australia. Having halted the Aussies juggernaut in Tests, after the whole tour itself was under threat – after the black Sydney Test, and then lifting the VB Cup, Dhoni has had his share of luck as the captain of the Indian team.

In the year 2008, Dhoni was the highest paid cricketer as far as the inaugural IPL version is concerned, running out the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and some overseas players like Ricky Ponting and Andrew Symonds.