In Numbers: M S Dhoni's glorious career

August 17, 2020

IMAGE: Mahendra Singh Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket on Saturday, August 15. Photographs: BCCI

More like this

Sakshi pens emotional note for Dhoni

Not one to hog the limelight, Mahendra Singh Dhoni ended his India career in his trademark fashion, without much of fanfare.

All it took was an Instagram post on August 15, 2020, for the cricket legend to end his famed career, which saw several landmarks for Indian cricket -- including two World Cup titles, ICC Championship Trophy and the World No 1 ranking in Test cricket.

He is the first and the only captain so far to win all three ICC trophies.

Leaving behind a rich legacy that will be difficult to replicate, Dhoni holds the record for most international matches as captain (332).

Unarguably the quickest man behind the wicket, Dhoni has 195 international stumpings, the most by any wicket-keeper.

Rajneesh Gupta presents a detailed statistical analysis of Dhoni's India career:

International career (2004-2019)

ODI debut: v Bangladesh, Chittagong (now Chattogram), December 23, 2004

Test debut: v Sri Lanka, Chennai, December 2, 2005

T20I debut: v South Africa, Johannesburg, December 1, 2006

Last Test: v Australia, Melbourne, December 30, 2014

Last T20I: v Australia, Bengaluru, February 27, 2019

Last ODI: v New Zealand, Manchester, July 10, 2019

Dhoni's career record

	Matches	Runs	Hs	Average	Strike Rate	100s	Sixes	Caught/Stumpings
Tests	90	4,876	224	38.09	59.11	6	78	256/38
ODIs	350	10,773	183*	50.57	87.56	10	229	321/123
T20Is	98	1,617	56	37.60	126.13	0	52	57/34
All Internationals	538	17,266	224	44.96	79.07	16	359	634/195

Dhoni's batting record as captain

	Matches	Runs	Highest Score	Average	Strike Rate	100s	50s
Tests	60	3,454	224	40.63	57.82	5	24
ODIs	200	6,641	139*	53.55	86.21	6	47
T20Is	72	1,112	48*	37.06	122.60	0	0
All internationals	332	11,207	224	46.89	76.84	11	71

Dhoni's captaincy win/loss record

	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR/Drawn	Win%
Tests	60	27	18	0	15	45.00
ODIs	200	110	74	5	11	55.00
T20Is	72	42	28	0	2	58.33
All intenationals	332	179	120	5	28	53.91

Note: The captaincy record in T20Is includes one match won on the tie-breaker after it finished in a tie.

Dhoni's captaincy win/loss record in ICC events

	Matches	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	Win%
ODI World Cups	17	14	2	1	0	82.35
T20 World Cups	33	21	11	0	1	63.63
Champions Trophy	8	6	1	0	1	75.00
All ICC events	58	41	14	1	2	70.68

Note: The captaincy record in T20Is includes one match won on the tie-breaker after it finished in a tie.

Dhoni's batting record in Tests

Year	Mts	Runs	Avergage
2005	3	149	37.25
2006	12	557	29.31
2007	8	468	52
2008	12	633	35.16
2009	5	369	92.25
2010	13	749	41.61
2011	12	511	26.89
2012	8	447	40.63
2013	8	459	45.9
2014	9	534	33.37

Dhoni's batting record in ODIs

Year	Mts	Runs	Average
2004	3	19	9.5
2005	27	895	49.72
2006	29	821	41.05
2007	37	1103	44.12
2008	29	1097	57.73
2009	29	1198	70.47
2010	18	600	46.15
2011	24	764	58.76
2012	16	524	65.5
2013	26	753	62.75
2014	12	418	52.25
2015	20	640	45.71
2016	13	278	27.8
2017	29	788	60.61
2018	20	275	25
2019	18	600	60

In successful run-chases in ODIs, Dhoni has a mind-boggling average of 102.71, which is the highest for any batsman with 1,000 runs or more in winning causes.

Dhoni's batting record in T20Is

Year	Mts	Runs	Avg
2006	1	0	0
2007	8	163	32.6
2008	1	9	9
2009	10	184	23
2010	5	85	42.5
2011	3	39	19.5
2012	14	268	53.6
2013	1	24	-
2014	7	77	77
2015	2	25	25
2016	21	238	47.6
2017	13	252	42
2018	7	123	41
2019	5	130	43.33

Dhoni averages a Bradmanesque 102 in successful run chases in One-Day Internationals, with 2,876 runs in 75 games, bettering Virat Kohli, who is renowned for his batting in run chases, and Australia's legend Michael Bevan.

Highest batting averages in successful chases in ODIs

	Innings	Not Out	Runs	Hs	Average	Strike Rate	100	50
M S Dhoni	75	47	2,876	183*	102.71	88.00	2	20
Virat Kohli	86	30	5,388	183	96.21	97.76	22	22
Michael Bevan	45	25	1,725	107	86.25	66.42	3	12
A B de Villiers	59	28	2,566	136*	82.77	96.90	5	18
Joe Root	41	16	1,942	133*	77.68	87.95	6	8
Michael Clarke	53	24	2,142	105*	73.86	77.72	3	17
Hansie Cronje/td>	43	19	1,682	94	70.08	80.36	0	15
Martin Crowe	32	11	1,470	107*	70.00	78.10	2	12

Dhoni's batting showed great improvement after he handed over the captaincy to Kohli.

Dhoni under Virat Kohli

	Matches	Innings	Not Out	Runs	Highest Score	Avg	Strike Rate	100s	50s
in ODIs	57	44	17	1513	134	56.03	83.04	1	11
in T20Is	18	15	7	349	56	43.62	135.79	0	2

There were question marks over Dhoni's place in the team in the last year of his career with India as he struggled to get the big hits which he was known for earlier in his career and he also struggled to finish off matches.

Dhoni in the final year of his career (August 2018-July 2019)

	Mts	Inns	NO	Runs	Hs	Avg	SR	100s	50s
in ODIs	29	23	6	727	87*	42.76	80.42	0	6
in T20Is	5	5	2	130	40	43.33	116.07	0	0

Dhoni's Man of Match awards in Tests: 2

Opposition	Venue	Year	Batting	Ct	St
Australia	Mohali	2008	92 & 68*	2	1
Australia	Chennai	2013	224	0	1

Dhoni's Man of Match awards in One-Day Internationals: 21

Opposition	Venue	Year	Batting	Ct	St
Pakistan	Visakhapatnam	2005	148	2	0
Sri Lanka	Jaipur	2005	183*	1	0
Pakistan	Lahore	2006	72*	3	0
Bangladesh	Dhaka	2007	91*	0	1
Africa XI	Chennai	2007	139*	0	3
Australia	Chandigarh	2007	50*	0	2
Pakistan	Guwahati	2007	63	0	1
Sri Lanka	Karachi	2008	67	2	0
Sri Lanka	Colombo (RPS)	2008	76	2	0
New Zealand	Napier	2009	84*	1	1
West Indies	Gros Islet	2009	46*	2	1
Australia	Nagpur	2009	124	1	1
Bangladesh	Dhaka	2010	101*	0	0
Sri Lanka	Mumbai	2011	91*	1	0
England	Hyderabad	2011	87*	1	1
Sri Lanka	Adelaide	2012	58*	2	0
Pakistan	Chennai	2012	113*	0	0
Pakistan	Delhi	2013	36	1	1
Sri Lanka	Port of Spain	2013	45*	1	3
South Africa	Indore	2015	92*	3	1
West Indies	North Sound	2017	78*	0	1

Twenty20 Internationals:0

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

Tests:

First wicket-keeper to lead India in Test cricket.
Only the eighth Indian captain to start his captaincy stint with a win (against South Africa at Kanpur in April 2008).
Only the second Indian captain (after Sourav Ganguly) to win his first Test both at home and abroad. He led India for the first time in an overseas Test against New Zealand at Hamilton in March 2009, which the visitors won by 10 wickets.
Holds the Indian record of most wicket-keeping dismissals in Tests -- 294.
The only Indian wicketkeeper to score 4,000 runs and effect 200 dismissals.
Has played more Tests than any other player (60) performing the dual duty of captaining the side as well as donning the wicket-keeping gloves.
Under his captaincy, India became the first team in Test history to make successful fourth innings chase in three consecutive Tests.
He is the first Indian captain to win a Test match on New Zealand soil in 33 years when he led India to 10-wicket win at Hamilton in March 2009. Before him, Sunil Gavaskar had won a Test at New Zealand soil way back in January 1976.
Under Dhoni's captaincy, India scored 387/4 in the fourth innings of the Chennai Test to beat England -- their second highest successful fourth innings chase in Test cricket.
Led India to number one position in ICC rankings in Test cricket for the first time -- in December 2009.

One-Day Internationals:

Only the third wicket-keeper to lead India in a one-day international after Syed Kirmani (one match) and Rahul Dravid (5 matches).
His innings of 183 not out, against Sri Lanka at Jaipur in October 2005, is the HIGHEST ever by a wicket-keeper in ODIs.
Holds the record of scoring the fastest hundred by an Indian wicket-keeper in ODIs (off 85 balls against Sri Lanka at Jaipur in October 2005).
Holds the record of scoring maximum hundreds by an Indian wicket-keeper with nine hundreds (including one hundred scored for Asia XI).
His career average of 50.57 is the second highest by an Indian after Virat Kohli's 59.33 (minimum qualification: 500 career runs).
Led India to 9 consecutive wins between November 2008 and February 2009 -- an Indian record.
Captained India to 2011 World Cup win.
First Asian and only the third captain to win 100 ODIs (after Allan Border and Ricky Ponting).
Finished a successful chase in ODIs with a six on as many as nine occasions -- most by any batsman.
First Indian to hit 200 sixes in ODIs.
Most runs in ODIs when batting at No 6 or lower (5,155.)
Out of the 51 instances when Dhoni emained not out in a chase in an ODI, India woṇ 50 and lost only one.
The 47 not outs by Dhoni are the most by any player in successful chases in ODIs.
Holds the record of most dismissals by an Indian wicket-keeper in an ODI (6) and in a ODI career (444)./li>
No one has made more stumpings than Dhoni in ODIs (123) and in all international cricket (195).

Twenty20 Internationals:

First captain to win the ICC Twenty20 World Cup, in South Africa in 2007.
First player to captain in 50 Twenty20 Internationals.
Most matches as captain in T20Is (72)
After getting a duck in his debut innings, Dhoni played 84 consecutive innings without ever getting out for a duck again -- the longest such streak in this format.

International cricket:

Most runs in international cricket when batting at No 6 or lower (10,628)
Most (142) unbeaten knocks in international cricket (Tests + ODIs + T20Is)
Captained India in 332 matches across all formats (Tests, ODIs & T20Is) -- the most by any player in cricket history. Ricky Ponting is second with 324 matches.
Holds the record of most wicket-keeping dismissals by an Indian in all three formats -- Tests (294), ODIs (444) and T20Is (91).

Miscellaneous:

Only captain to win all three ICC trophies -- ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy and T20 World Cup.

RAJNEESH GUPTA / Rediff.com

Recommended by Rediff.com

Should BCCI retire Dhoni's jersey No 7?

'World cricket will miss the helicopter shots, Mahi'

Dhoni retired to give a chance to others, says manager

The Dhoni no one really knew...