On December 23 in 2004, former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni made a forgettable debut in the One-Day Internationals during the three-match series against Bangladesh.
It was the worst imagined debut as the 37-year-old cricketer from Ranchi, who changed the face of the Indian cricket, was dismissed for a golden duck in the successful opening ODI against Bangladesh at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.
After being asked to bat first, India were collapsed to 45 for three before Mohammad Kaif (80) and Rahul Dravid (53) struck blistering knocks to bring the visiting side out of trouble and guide them to a 11-run victory.
Dhoni came to bat at number seventh position following Sridharan Sriram's dismissal during that match but he was run out after facing just one ball, thus putting the spectators in dismay.
The Ranchi lad failed to add much runs to his kitty in the next few matches before he finally smashed a magnificent century only in his fifth ODI to announce his arrival in the international arena.
So far, the wicket-keeper batsman has appeared in a total of 332 ODIs, scoring 10,173 runs--including 67 half-centuries and 10 hundreds--at an average of 50.11.
Dhoni is undoubtedly one of the most successful wicketkeeper-batsman as well as one of the most successful skipper in the history of the Indian cricket.
He has captained India in 200 ODI matches, guiding them to victory in 110 of them while losing 74 games. Among all other Indian captains so far, Dhoni has the best winning percentage of 59.52.
Dhoni is also the only skipper to guide the Men in Blue to victory in all three major International Cricket Council (ICC) tournaments--the 50-over World Cup in 2011, 2013 Champions Trophy and 2007 T20 World Cup. He bid adieu to Test cricket in December 2014, but continued to lead India in ODIs and T20Is before eventually stepping down from the post on January 4 in 2017.
Though he has passed on the mantle to current captain Virat Kohli, Dhoni continues to play a crucial role in the team and often shuts down his critics with some match-winning performances when it matters the most.
