Happy Birthday MS Dhoni

Happy Birthday MS Dhoni: India legend’s 5 captaincy masterstrokes that turned the match on its head

MS Dhoni is fresh off a fifth IPL trophy with the Chennai Super Kings as he continues to establish his dominance as one of the finest thinkers of the game from a tactical standpoint. He remains the only captain in the history of the sport to have won all three ICC white-ball tournaments – T20 World Cup, ODI World Cup and the Champions Trophy – and was required to use his tactical smarts to earn wins in each case. Beyond his success in limited-overs cricket, he was also at the helm of India’s rise to being the world’s number-one-ranked Test team for the first time.

MS Dhoni’s decision-making has remained second-to-none and we take a look at five of his greatest decisions as captain

With ‘Captain Cool’ celebrating his 42nd birthday on July 7, here are 5 brilliant decisions Dhoni made in the heat of the moment to earn his team big wins:

Joginder Sharma bowling the last over of the T20 World Cup
India had been in the driving seat of the first-ever T20 World Cup final throughout but thanks to Misbah-ul-Haq’s brilliance towards the end, stood at risk of losing the match. Pakistan needed 13 to win in the last over with Misbah still at the crease. Dhoni might have trusted Harbhajan Singh with the ball, but with the off-spinner having been expensive against Misbah, Dhoni made the brave decision of going with the inexperienced medium pace of Joginder Sharma.

After the match, Dhoni made clear that it was an easy decision to make because of his trust in the pacer: “I thought I should throw the ball to someone who really wants to well in international cricket. Jogi did a really good job.”
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