Mahendra Singh Dhoni ( pronunciation (help·info); commonly known as MS Dhoni; born 7 July 1981) is an Indian international cricketer who captained the Indian national team in limited-overs formats from 2007 to 2016 and in Test cricket from 2008 to 2014. An attacking right-handed middle-order batsman and wicket-keeper, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest finishers in limited-overs cricket. He is also regarded as one of the best wicket-keepers in world cricket and is known to have very fast hands. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2004 against Bangladesh, and played his first Test a year later against Sri Lanka.

MS Dhoni

Dhoni in January 2016
Personal information
Full name	Mahendra Singh Dhoni
Born	(1981-07-07) 7 July 1981 (age 37) Ranchi, Bihar (now Jharkhand), India
Nickname	Mahi, MSD, Captain Cool, Thala
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Batting	Right-handed
Bowling	Right-arm medium
Role	Wicket-keeper batsman
International information
National side	India (2004-present)
Test debut (cap 251)	2 December 2005 v Sri Lanka
Last Test	26 December 2014 v Australia
ODI debut (cap 158)	23 December 2004 v Bangladesh
Last ODI	23 September 2018 v Pakistan
ODI shirt no.	7
T20I debut (cap 2)	1 December 2006 v South Africa
Last T20I	8 July 2018 v England
T20I shirt no.	7
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1999/00–2003/04	Bihar
2004/05–present	Jharkhand
2008–2015; 2018-present	Chennai Super Kings (squad no. 7)
2016–2017	Rising Pune Supergiant (squad no. 7)
2018	Chennai Super Kings
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI T20Is FC Matches 90 320 93 131 Runs scored 4,876 10,046 1,487 7,038 Batting average 38.09 51.25 37.17 36.84 100s/50s 6/33 10/67 0/2 9/47 Top score 224 183* 56 224 Balls bowled 96 36 – 126 Wickets 0 1 – 0 Bowling average – 31.00 – – 5 wickets in innings 0 0 – 0 10 wickets in match 0 0 – 0 Best bowling – 1/14 – – Catches/stumpings 256/38 297/107 54/33 364/57
Source: ESPNcricinfo, 23 September 2018

Dhoni has been the recipient of many awards, including the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2008 and 2009 (the first player to win the award twice), the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award in 2007, the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour, in 2009 and the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honour, in 2018. He was named as the captain of the ICC World Test XI in 2009, 2010 and 2013. He has also been selected a record 8 times in ICC World ODI XI teams, 5 times as captain. The Indian Territorial Army conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel to Dhoni on 1 November 2011. He is the second Indian cricketer after Kapil Dev to receive this honour.

Dhoni also holds numerous captaincy records such as the most wins by an Indian captain in Tests, ODIs and T20Is, and most back-to-back wins by an Indian captain in ODIs. He took over the ODI captaincy from Rahul Dravid in 2007 and led the team to its first-ever bilateral ODI series wins in Sri Lanka and New Zealand. Under his captaincy, India won the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, the CB Series of 2007–08, the 2010 and 2016 Asia Cups, the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup and the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy. In the final of the 2011 World Cup, Dhoni scored 91 not out off 79 balls handing India the victory for which he was awarded the Man of the Match. In June 2013, when India defeated England in the final of the Champions Trophy in England, Dhoni became the first captain to win all three ICC limited-overs trophies (World Cup, Champions Trophy and the World Twenty20). After taking up the Test captaincy in 2008, he led the team to series wins in New Zealand and West Indies, and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in 2008, 2010 and 2013. In 2009, Dhoni also led the Indian team to number one position for the first time in the ICC Test rankings. In 2013, under his captaincy, India became the first team in more than 40 years to whitewash Australia in a Test series. In the Indian Premier League, he captained the Chennai Super Kings to victory at the 2010, 2011 and 2018 seasons, along with wins in the 2010 and 2014 editions of Champions League Twenty20. He announced his retirement from Tests on 30 December