The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
THE International Cricket Council has congratulated former Indian skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni on a wonderful career after he announced his retirement from the global game on Saturday.
In a statement on Sunday, the world cricket governing body said Dhoni, a wicketkeeper/batsman was an accomplished all-rounder with his smart work behind the stumps and with the bat and was known as one of the greatest finishers in limited overs cricket.
The 39-year-old was captain of the Indian teams that won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2007, the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 2011 and the ICC Champions Trophy in 2013.
ICC chief executive officer, Manu Sawhney described Dhoni as one of the game’s exceptional players and wished the retiring former Indian captain well for the future.
“MS Dhoni is one of the all-time greats of the game. The image of his winning shot at the Wankhede Stadium in the 2011 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup final is etched in the memory of cricket lovers around the world. He has inspired a whole generation and will be sorely missed. On behalf of the ICC, I congratulate him for an outstanding cricket career and wish him all the best for the future,’’ said Sawhney.
Dhoni scored 4,876 runs in 98 matches with 256 catches and 38 stumpings in a Test career that he called an end to in 2014. In ODIs, he scored 10,773 runs with 321 catches and 123 stumpings, last turning out for India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. In T20Is, he aggregated 1617 runs with 57 catches and 34 stumpings. He scored six centuries in Tests and 10 in ODIs.
Dhoni spent 656 days as the top-ranked batsman in the MRF Tyres ICC Men’s ODI Player Rankings from 2006 to 2010 and was the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2008 and 2009.
He was in the ICC ODI Teams of the Year in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and in the ICC Test Teams of the Year in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. He won the ICC Spirit of Cricket award in 2011 for his decision to recall England batsman Ian Bell after his controversial run-out during the Trent Bridge Test.
Dhoni was the Indian captain when they last embarked on a tour of Zimbabwe in June 2016 for three One Day Internationals and same number of Twenty20 Internationals.
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