What's new

MS Dhoni - The best thing that has happened to Indian cricket

Bilal1947

Debutant
Joined
Nov 28, 2012
Runs
163
He is truly being a vital cog in India's success.The winning mentality coupled with his ice cool demeanor under pressure is responsible for making India such a force.In short,he is an anomaly .If it wasn't Tendulkar, there would have been another ( although probably not as prolific) because India's batting talent pool is massive.Many players who would have been international quality never got the chance so if Tendulkar never played for India, it wouldn't have made much of difference.Kapil Dev comes a close second to Dhoni in respect to being irreplaceable.
 
Indian team was shuffling WK till MSD came and cemented the spot. He is ATG in ODI. Many matches would have been lost if there was another WK instead of him. Still no one ever close to replacing Kapil. Another person most people forget is Kumble. Most of our home wins were due to him.
 
he is an ODI ATG , a great captain and most importantly a gentleman. how lucky are India to have him.

PS- is it just me or these days there really are more threads about Indian cricket than Pakistani cricket on pakpassion.
 
Talking in terms of eras - Kapil Dev, SRT and MSD are the three best things to have happened to Indian ODI cricket.

In tests though, the less said about Dhoni the better.
 
In one day cricket. It is exactly the opposite in test cricket.

Baseless comments about MS and test cricket has become a norm or what?

There's no doubt that MS the ODI player is far better than MS the test bat but by no means he is the worst thing to have happened to Indian test cricket.
 
he is the glue which holds the team together.

when he retires, there will be lots of infighting among the players. all will have same seniority.
 
he is the glue which holds the team together.

when he retires, there will be lots of infighting among the players. all will have same seniority.

With Virat as captain,thats even more possible :(
 
I don't know if it is necessary to bring Tendulkar's name in the discussion and belittle his achievements on a very happy day for Indian cricket. Just a couple of months ago, not many fans were sorry about MSD's test retirement but i was because i know i don't have to compare him to XYZ for what he's done for Indian cricket. MS is one of our very best. Tendulkar is in another league altogether and it doesn't matter where you bring him into discussions to put him down, in the cricketing circles Tendulkar has achieved a status that's untouchable now. This is a moment, where we should just celebrate MSD as one of world's greatest ODI batsmen and one of Indian cricket's greatest servants.
 
He is truly being a vital cog in India's success.The winning mentality coupled with his ice cool demeanor under pressure is responsible for making India such a force.In short,he is an anomaly .If it wasn't Tendulkar, there would have been another ( although probably not as prolific) because India's batting talent pool is massive.Many players who would have been international quality never got the chance so if Tendulkar never played for India, it wouldn't have made much of difference.Kapil Dev comes a close second to Dhoni in respect to being irreplaceable.

Disagree, most of the current batsmen including Dhoni and Kohli credit him a lot for their inspiration. That is how traditions work, bowling giants inspired bowlers like Amir in Pak and reverse happened in India

Dhoni is amazing no doubt, but dragging in Sachin for no reason just feels like another cheap attempt to put Sachin down and makes me think about this thread.
 
he is the glue which holds the team together.

when he retires, there will be lots of infighting among the players. all will have same seniority.

Nope, there is no way BCCI is going to tolerate any of this nonsense. The board has become really powerful and will not tolerate anything which messes with their image or profit
 
I don't know if it is necessary to bring Tendulkar's name in the discussion and belittle his achievements on a very happy day for Indian cricket. Just a couple of months ago, not many fans were sorry about MSD's test retirement but i was because i know i don't have to compare him to XYZ for what he's done for Indian cricket. MS is one of our very best. Tendulkar is in another league altogether and it doesn't matter where you bring him into discussions to put him down, in the cricketing circles Tendulkar has achieved a status that's untouchable now. This is a moment, where we should just celebrate MSD as one of world's greatest ODI batsmen and one of Indian cricket's greatest servants.
Tendulkar is probably the finest batsman ever in terms of being so great for so long. Yes he has much more following because of his piles of records but if you consider who has been more vital to your success, from a neutral perspective, it has been Dhoni.
 
Also remove Tendulkar from history, i don't think it will affect India' record much but remove Dhoni and you are looking at being 3 ICC trophies short.Its more about personal records vs success of the team.
 
Tendulkar is probably the finest batsman ever in terms of being so great for so long. Yes he has much more following because of his piles of records but if you consider who has been more vital to your success, from a neutral perspective, it has been Dhoni.

His fan following grew in the 90s, before he broke a single cricketing record. Is any person naive enough to thing fan following happens because of records? When Sachin used to play, people would stop work on the street to watch him bat. Do you think they count records? That is not how passionate fan following develops.

Since the time of Sourav, India has seen a steady growth in professionalism and winning mentality. It is a process. You cannot ignore the previous chain which started it. Dhoni is arguably the greatest captain in the world. However just because tomorrow another great player leads India to even bigger heights, I am not going to put down Dhoni
 
Also remove Tendulkar from history, i don't think it will affect India' record much but remove Dhoni and you are looking at being 3 ICC trophies short.Its more about personal records vs success of the team.

India did have a brilliant ODI team under Dhoni, one of the finest ever.

And I love you think Sachin can be removed from ODI 2011 when we would have lost QF/Semis without him. Why stop at Dhoni? Remove Gambhir and we would have not won T20 WC or 2011. Remove Yuvraj and we would not have won either

I was right, this thread has nothing to do with Dhoni, just a cheap dig at Sachin
 
India did have a brilliant ODI team under Dhoni, one of the finest ever.

And I love you think Sachin can be removed from ODI 2011 when we would have lost QF/Semis without him. Why stop at Dhoni? Remove Gambhir and we would have not won T20 WC or 2011. Remove Yuvraj and we would not have won either

I was right, this thread has nothing to do with Dhoni, just a cheap dig at Sachin
I have nothing but utmost respect for Sachin.Him along with Dravid and Dhoni are my favorite Indian cricketer.The comparision to Tendulkar is done because he is the benchmark and the measuring stick in Indian cricket,much like IK is for Pak.This in no way aims to undermine his achievements.It simly highlights how important Dhoni is to India.
 
Tendulkar is probably the finest batsman ever in terms of being so great for so long. Yes he has much more following because of his piles of records but if you consider who has been more vital to your success, from a neutral perspective, it has been Dhoni.

For that matter, there is an endless list of utility cricketers who end up having more influence in an average ODI game than a specialist opener. I think these kind of comparisons are stuff of fantasy and propaganda. Every game is all about people doing their job right. Its about being the best in what you do. Tendulkar, you would always pick him as your ODI opener and in test middle order. Thats all that matters for him. Dhoni, you will always pick him in your ODI middle order and thats all about him. I don't see Dhoni and Tendulkar crossing each other's path anywhere actually. I have watched them both play 6-8 years of cricket together and never did i find any of them was crossing other's path. Tendulkar kept providing the foundations in all conditions and against all teams and Dhoni kept finishing them.


Your arguement is like saying Philip Lahm is a greater player than Manuel Neuer. Its about people doing their job right and thats about it.
 
Yes. India don't miss SRT as much as they will do with Dhoni.
May be because SRT's phase out in ODIs was very gradual. He took rest from 60% of India games after 2007 world cup if am not wrong.
MSD on the other hand seems be regular for most of the games.
Will be interesting how India handles his phase out.
 
For that matter, there is an endless list of utility cricketers who end up having more influence in an average ODI game than a specialist opener. I think these kind of comparisons are stuff of fantasy and propaganda. Every game is all about people doing their job right. Its about being the best in what you do. Tendulkar, you would always pick him as your ODI opener and in test middle order. Thats all that matters for him. Dhoni, you will always pick him in your ODI middle order and thats all about him. I don't see Dhoni and Tendulkar crossing each other's path anywhere actually. I have watched them both play 6-8 years of cricket together and never did i find any of them was crossing other's path. Tendulkar kept providing the foundations in all conditions and against all teams and Dhoni kept finishing them.


Your arguement is like saying Philip Lahm is a greater player than Manuel Neuer. Its about people doing their job right and thats about it.

Ok lets see it from a different perspective, you have had many batting greats.That culture was laid by Gavaskar and probably even earlier.The chances of producing a great batsman were always greater but what Dhoni is with his leadership is unique.Remove IK the fast bowler and I think the traditon of fast bowlers would have continued but remove his leadership ( which similarly also unique in Pak) and you are looking at muck lesser success
 
when he retires, there will be lots of infighting among the players. all will have same seniority.

Delusional stuff. This is BCCI. They ll throw the big headed people out in a flash.



I was right, this thread has nothing to do with Dhoni, just a cheap dig at Sachin

Shaant Gadadhaari Bheem. Shaant.
Genuine discussion here. And tbh, Just put your opinion and that is all you can do. Karm per vichaar karo, phal ki chinta kar ke kya milega. Hain ji?
 
Sachinists whining on a thread about Dhoni? India winning without Sachin, that too 6/6 which we never did previously seems to have affected the fanbase. Calm down guys, focus on the present.
 
Don't understand Pakistani posters obsession with downplaying SRT's career.

It wouldn't be taking it too far to say that ALL of the Indian top order in the ODI line-up were inspired to play the way they do because of SRT.

Take out SRT and who would you look upto in the 90's? Ganguly? Dravid? Jadeja? Or the fixer Azhar?

SRT has a HUGE role to play in where the Indian ODI team is currently.
 
Hahahahaha.
Just a few weeks ago he was a spent force and past it according our parosee posters.

Now after these groups wins he is a hero again.

Add some confused pak supporters and we get such threads.
 
Hahahahaha.
Just a few weeks ago he was a spent force and past it according our parosee posters.

Now after these groups wins he is a hero again.

Add some confused pak supporters and we get such threads.

FOR TESTS yeah not ODI.
 
India did have a brilliant ODI team under Dhoni, one of the finest ever.

And I love you think Sachin can be removed from ODI 2011 when we would have lost QF/Semis without him. Why stop at Dhoni? Remove Gambhir and we would have not won T20 WC or 2011. Remove Yuvraj and we would not have won either

I was right, this thread has nothing to do with Dhoni, just a cheap dig at Sachin

i think you are misunderstanding what he is trying to say.

he isn't down playing importance of tendu.

but in my opinion too, dhoni, saurav had a greater impact in indian cricket towards professionalism than tendu. behind the scenes, tendu didn't have much impact. he wasn't a leader to begin with. he couldn't steer the ship when he was given the opportunity.

but, dhoni, though he is far far less talented than tendu, behind the scenes, he has contributed so much that tendu becomes pale.

tedu was a great player. Dhoni, Suarav is a concept, attitude.
 
Disagree, most of the current batsmen including Dhoni and Kohli credit him a lot for their inspiration. That is how traditions work, bowling giants inspired bowlers like Amir in Pak and reverse happened in India

Dhoni is amazing no doubt, but dragging in Sachin for no reason just feels like another cheap attempt to put Sachin down and makes me think about this thread.

Tell this to a famous imran khan basher over here and i m sure he will give u some weird alternate view
 
FOR TESTS yeah not ODI.

So you carry and lose all overseas tests because he is such a great odi bat and ooh a great person?

India always has been an odi power house but even dhoni the so called greatest thing happened to indian cricket made weird loser type choices on sever tests.
 
So you carry and lose all overseas tests because he is such a great odi bat and ooh a great person?

India always has been an odi power house but even dhoni the so called greatest thing happened to indian cricket made weird loser type choices on sever tests.

he is a bad test cap but no one has criticized him in ODIs and we were good in ODI in 80's we were ducks in 90's only after dada and then Dhoni we did very well in ODIs on consistent basis.Even if we loose this wc nothing can be taken away from Dhoni for his contribution in LOI.
 
In terms of overall impact to the Indian team, Kapil Dev > Dhoni > Sachin. Needless to say, classy all rounders and captains create bigger impact on team fortunes than pure batsmen.
 
i think you are misunderstanding what he is trying to say.

he isn't down playing importance of tendu.

but in my opinion too, dhoni, saurav had a greater impact in indian cricket towards professionalism than tendu. behind the scenes, tendu didn't have much impact. he wasn't a leader to begin with. he couldn't steer the ship when he was given the opportunity.

but, dhoni, though he is far far less talented than tendu, behind the scenes, he has contributed so much that tendu becomes pale.

tedu was a great player. Dhoni, Suarav is a concept, attitude.

True, indians have a certain brashness and confidence that was absent before. More so in their body language, anyone can sledge and swear, but u can measure true confidence on the field watching players carry themselves. Earlier India looked meek especially chasing.

But what an ugly batsman, the least attractive looking stroke player in International cricket. Has had his fair share of luck, but considering he comes from a poor village, has done well for himself.
 
In terms of overall impact to the Indian team, Kapil Dev > Dhoni > Sachin. Needless to say, classy all rounders and captains create bigger impact on team fortunes than pure batsmen.

kapil did install that "attitude" though as time have passed, in absence of a worthy inheritor, it got faded. only saurav reignited that again.
 
.Kapil Dev comes a close second to Dhoni in respect to being irreplaceable.

A certain Saurav Ganguly will also figure in the list of Indian irreplaceables. Possibly even ahead of Kapil.

The best captains India has had in its history are Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, Kapil Dev, Ganguly and Dhoni.
 
Sachin Tendulkar and then EASILY Dhoni when it comes to limited overs cricket especially!
 
i agree with bilal1947....even i have been saying the same.....to my friends here in mumbai.......
that the amount of success that Dhoni has managed to achieve for India.....has never been done before
not by Tendulkar or even by Kapil Dev.....

When in our cricketing history has ever anyone talked about India as such overwhelming favorites....
Its primarily bcoz Dhoni is leading this team.....They almost seem invincible.....this feeling was never there before
not even during Tendulkars peak....we were considered a strong team....

But today the world fears us.....that says a lot about Dhoni ....yes it is his team....he has cultivated this culture of playing fearless cricket.....These are amazing days for Indian cricket.

And if India manage to win this trophy in Australia under Dhoni.....then he will become immortal....
i have a strong feeling....he will....
 
sachin pales in comparison to dhoni...Dhoni will prolly go down the GREATEST ODI bat for india and ONE OF THE GREATEST ODI BATS for cricket itself...but kohli has every possibility to eclipse Dhoni as a batsman in future but as a leader i doubt it...Dhoni will prolly go down the GREATEST ODI captain ever for india and that will prolly remain for a while....sachin never had the mental ability of dhoni under pressure...
 
kapil did install that "attitude" though as time have passed, in absence of a worthy inheritor, it got faded. only saurav reignited that again.

Saurav is somewhat overrated. Three test wins outside the SC in his whole career as captain.
 
Dhoni has been phenomenal for Ind, but Ganguly has fallen under the radar and he did lay the foundation for a new era of Indian cricket.

Could all this have been possible without the services of Ganguly?
 
A certain person wants to invade...IMO Sourav, Kapil and Dhoni were all more important that Sachin in terms of Winning Culture and all....Sachin brought in the fans...and money ...

aggression.jpg
 
i agree with bilal1947....even i have been saying the same.....to my friends here in mumbai.......
that the amount of success that Dhoni has managed to achieve for India.....has never been done before
not by Tendulkar or even by Kapil Dev.....

When in our cricketing history has ever anyone talked about India as such overwhelming favorites....
Its primarily bcoz Dhoni is leading this team.....They almost seem invincible.....this feeling was never there before
not even during Tendulkars peak....we were considered a strong team....

But today the world fears us.....that says a lot about Dhoni ....yes it is his team....he has cultivated this culture of playing fearless cricket.....These are amazing days for Indian cricket.

And if India manage to win this trophy in Australia under Dhoni.....then he will become immortal....
i have a strong feeling....he will....
Yes he has built an aura around the team.To give you an example, in the past I have always felt India was more under pressure in IndoPak clashes but in recent times,Pakistan have looked more nervous .
 
Well he did lead you to the number one test ranking

Unfortunately in our country we tend to have people with very short memories or they want captains who should not just beat but whitewash Aus in Aus over 5 Test match series .... only then they will accept someone is good. Ghar ki murgi daal .... :facepalm:
 
From last few years fans have been hating on him only.

People need to realize it was Dhoni who changed the face of Indian cricket and not Kohli.
 
MS Dhoni has now won two ODI series in Australia as a player.
 
Gavaskar and Kapil are the most important Indians in my book. Then probably Ganguly.
 
From last few years fans have been hating on him only.

People need to realize it was Dhoni who changed the face of Indian cricket and not Kohli.
It is ganguly who changed the face of indian cricket not dhoni.
Saurav ganguly is the best thing that happened to indian cricket.
 
Gavaskar and Kapil are the most important Indians in my book. Then probably Ganguly.
Absolutely.
Ganguly not only made our odi team better but also took our test team to new heights,dhoni's acheivements in the greatest format of cricket aren't good enough.
 
Gavaskar and Kapil are the most important Indians in my book. Then probably Ganguly.

Has to be Sachin.

He changed Indian and in fact worldcricket forever. Single greatest game changer.
 
Gavaskar, Kapil and Tendulkar kept the interest of casual fan in cricket in India. But Ganguly changed the face of the Indian Cricket, his "in your face" no nonsense approach and not backing down laid grounds for players like Kohli.
Before Ganguly, Azharuddin was a nonchalant captain and did not care if India won or lost. Tendulkar was a meek and vanilla captain. So it was a breath of fresh air when Ganguly took over Team India and planted the seed for the fruit we are seeing today.
 
India has won one day series in Australia in a nail biting final match.Heartiest congrstulations to Team India.
But the way it was won has taken away all the joy of win.
The match should have been won in 40 overs,Dhoni purposely stretched it to 50th over.Everybody incl team India in pavilion were on edge till last over as a series win was at stake.
Dhoni is meglomaniac.he feels he is still a superman.but doesnt know that he is nether the WC he was or a batsman he was 6 years ago when he could hit the ball at will.Now he misses more than connects.

This is not the first time he has done it but n number of times in the past when he was captain and we have lost on atleast 3 occassions because of his so called clever tactic to end the match in last over, when it should have ended 4-5 overs back ,with a six with a flourish.
Today pitch may be slower but was not the least having any devil in it. Secondly score of 230 in 300 balls cakewalk and with 7 wickets in hand scorerate should have been accelerated after 35 overs itself.But we were or rather Dhoni was making it as if he is on a solo show.
Dhoni first of all is a misfit at no.4.His batting at times looks very ugly when he defends or scores singles.It appeared today that Kedar was under strong influence of Dhoni and even Virat did not dare to send message to Dhoni when he scored purposely in over 44 only 1 run,and that too on last ball to retain strike.
He may have his rustic plans but Kohli should have excercised his own strategy to finish the match far earlier.By clinically finishing any match in minimum overs you earn supremacy over opponent and by stretching it you encourage opposition of having given a good fight.
He wants to hog the limelight by hitting out in last 2 overs and as a finisher.but in this selfishness loses sight of team interest.
So he may be man of series for his 3 selfish slow innings against weakened Aussie attack, but to me he is a big villain and a risk as WC player in Indian team.
(This piece is an outburst of a cricket lover who suffered many anxious moments today while watching the match which Dhoni made an event out of a non event)
 
Has to be Sachin.

He changed Indian and in fact worldcricket forever. Single greatest game changer.

So you have gone from dhoni to tendulkar in 10 mins, niether of them did that, we were meek win at home lose away team without tendulkar we stayed the same with a a GOAT player added in.

It was ganguly who showed we could hold our own against the best, draw in Australia, odi win in England, wc finalists, it was his guys yuvraj and zaheer who were the bulwarks of the world cup win.

Dhoni did nothing special, just years before dhoni became Captain we had won in England under dravid, lost in Australia to umpires under kumble. He just continued it with nz win and sa away draw. If anything once the greats got old, we saw what dhoni's captaincy was all about, after 8-0 he politicked his way to keep his captaincy and then ran away like a little cat when he saw srinivasan was not there to save him.

Under ganguly we got rid of nepotism and favoritism for most part as rarely could one say players were given special treatment without deserving it, under dhoni it returned in full tilt as csk and Chennai quota came to picture, in that way he did change the face of cricket it wasn't for the better though.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
As long as India carries old man Dhoni in their lineup they will bow out very early out of the World Cup. That’s a fact.
 
How, though?

Dear Robert,

At the end of the day the game is more than just statistics and how we interpret them. It is about respect as well. It is about emotions as well. About how much a player inspires a generation.

You just have to refer to moments like when Virat Kohli recognized Tendulkar in the crowd during India vs Pakistan World T20 match in 2016 after his half century and gestured (bowed) towards him. Neither Kohli had to do it, nor Tendulkar needs such validation. It was pure emotion. A young Indian batsman suddenly realizing his childhood dreams coming true and seeing his idol right in front of him watching him bat. You can't plan it. You can't even do it for just any other player without making it look extremely awkward but with Sachin it all seemed fair because he's Sachin he is after all the greatest cricketing icon of this generation.

viratkohli-bow-sachin-wt20-pak-kol-600-21-1458541940.jpg

You can score all the runs. You can take all those wickets.

But love and respect, it doesn't come just like that.
 
Dhoni's legacy apart from winning every cup is to show Indians how to chase. India were as bad or worse than Pak chasing targets even during Tendulkar's era.
 
His fan following grew in the 90s, before he broke a single cricketing record. Is any person naive enough to thing fan following happens because of records? When Sachin used to play, people would stop work on the street to watch him bat. Do you think they count records? That is not how passionate fan following develops.

Since the time of Sourav, India has seen a steady growth in professionalism and winning mentality. It is a process. You cannot ignore the previous chain which started it. Dhoni is arguably the greatest captain in the world. However just because tomorrow another great player leads India to even bigger heights, I am not going to put down Dhoni

There was no previous chain and we were at the lowest ebb with every player including Tendulkar playing for individual records rather than having the X-Factor.Dhoni is our version of Javed Miandad (Ultimate Street Fighter)
 
Dhoni is one of the greatest LOI players ever. So he is up there with greatest Indian players.
 
There was no previous chain and we were at the lowest ebb with every player including Tendulkar playing for individual records rather than having the X-Factor.Dhoni is our version of Javed Miandad (Ultimate Street Fighter)

No, even before Dhoni we were good. 2002-04 wasn't bad, we won test series in England, draw against Australia, won against Pakistan, we were runner ups in 2003 WC.
It was Tendulkar who won dhoni his first biggest odi series in Australia in 2008 where he made 117,95 in the two final matches.
 
Last edited:
I hate fickle fans.

Dhoni is a liability with the bat for India.

He was dropped today and played scratchy shots, but people only care about the end score, this shows that he's not 100% and that will be a huge risk going in the World Cup. He's been playing slow the entire series as well.
 
Funny that most Indians don’t consider Dhoninto be the inflection point in their cricket. Saurav did what he could but Dhoni led you guys to a T20 and odin WC win. If it weren’t for MS India wouldn’t have made it.
 
Pataudi- Gavaskar-Kapildev-Sachin Tendulkar- Ganguly-Dhoni-Kohli- It is like a relay race, one took over where the previous one left off.
 
Back
Top