Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Name: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Date of Birth: July 7, 1981

Place of Birth: Ranchi, Bihar


Description:-

Dhoni ( known as Mahi), made his debut for Bihar in the 1999-2000 season as an eighteen year old. He started off his career with modest performances at the local level. He was noticed by the national team selectors in 2004 after his performances in first class tournaments such as the Deodhar Trophy and the Duleep Trophy. Dhoni was selected to represent India 'A' on a tour of Kenya and his performances were good enough to win him selection in the Indian national team, making his one-day international debut against Bangladesh in Chittagong in December of that year.

Dhoni's best performance for India thus far is an unbeaten score of 183 off 145 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur on 31 October 2005, equalling the second best score by an Indian in ODIs. It was also the highest innings recorded by a wicket-keeper, and the highest number of sixes in an innings for a wicketkeeper with ten (all-rounders Sanath Jayasuriya and Shahid Afridi have hit 11). He also broke Saeed Anwar's record of most runs scored off boundaries by scoring a total of 120 runs off 4s and 6s eclipsing the previous record of 118. [1] This has broken the record for the highest individual score for a team batting second. This has also established the new Indian record of number of sixes in a match, overtaking previous record holders, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (both hit seven sixes in a match). Earlier, in 2005 he scored 148 against Pakistan in Vishakapatnam, in his fifth one-day international; the score came off only 123 deliveries.

In the 2006 India tour of the West Indies, where India won the Test series 1-0, Dhoni had an ordinary series, averaging only 24 with the bat; his only score of note was a quick and aggressive 69 in the first Test at Antigua. He also took 13 catches and had 4 stumpings in the series. India were defeated 4-1 in the ODIs that preceded the Test series, where Dhoni averaged only 23.75, his highest score being 46 not out, with 5 catches. Dhoni failed to reach 50 in the subsequent tri-series in Malaysia either, and began his Champions Trophy career in October 2006 with a single digit failure against England at Jaipur. However he followed up with a fifty against the West Indies. His performance against Australia in the next match was also fair, although India were knocked out of the Champion’s trophy.

Dhoni had a poor World Cup campaign, getting 29 runs in three innings, with an average of 9.67 and a highest of 29, at a strike rate of 100.0. Angry fans marched on and vandalized Dhoni's home after he played poorly in his team's loss to Bangladesh in the opening round of the 2007 World Cup[2]