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Legendary Indian skipper and wicketkeeper-batter MS Dhoni brought smiles on faces of millions 13 years back on this day, bringing the ICC Cricket World Cup home after 28 years after a massive six against Sri Lanka in the final at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium and ending the country's trophy drought.
Dhoni's captaincy throughout the tournament was incredible, as he guided the team to the finals after a tough semifinal match against arch-rivals Pakistan. In the group stage, India finished at second spot in Group B, with easy wins over Bangladesh, Ireland, Netherlands. The win against West Indies in the final league stage game was a hard-fought one. There was a high-scoring tie against England and a loss to South Africa due to a terrible, out-of-nowhere batting collapse. In the title clash, India was 31/2 while chasing Lanka's 275, powered by Mahela Jayawardene's unbeaten ton, but calm and measured knocks from Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli and MS himself guided Men in Blue to the trophy. While Dhoni's heroics with a team full of superstars and promising youngsters during the tournament is often talked about a lot, what is not talked about how the wicketkeeper-batter conquered all formats of cricket in preparation to the World Cup, making it one of the best cricketing primes of all times. Here is a detailed, title-by-title description of Dhoni's journey towards the World Cup glory, all of that occuring within a span of one year. -Maiden ICC World Test Championship mace in 2010 Before the ICC World Test Championship was introduced as a proper tournament in 2019-21 cycle, the Test mace which serves as the trophy for the competition was given to April 1 every year. Though India was crowned as number Test team back in December 2009 against Sri Lanka, it had to finish at number one at the cut-off date of April 1 to truly emerged as the Kings of the long format. Following that win, India secured an easy 2-0 win against Bangladesh away from home in a two-match series in January. India's next Test assignment was against South Africa at home in February. India managed to draw the series 1-1. After losing the first Test by an innings and six runs, India returned the favour by securing the Kolkata Test by an innings and 57 runs. Following these crucial wins, India ended the 2009-10 season with five wins and a loss and won the prestigious mace for the first time ever. In that period, MS was a prolific run-getter, scoring 466 runs in six Tests and seven innings at an average of 93.20, with three centuries and a fifty. His best score of 132*. -Indian Premier League (IPL) and Champions League (CLT20) titles with Chennai Super Kings (CSK) Dhoni's first major assignment as a captain was the ICC T20 World Cup 2007 in South Africa. Playing in overseas conditions without the experience of senior players, Dhoni let his young Indian side play their cricket with freedom and secure the title by beating final in closely fought final. Though India failed to reach semis in 2009 and 2010, Mahi served the world a reminder of his prowess in T20s by guiding CSK to their maiden IPL and CLT20 titles in 2010. In April 2010, CSK beat Mumbai Indians (MI) by 22 runs in the final. Dhoni played a cameo of 22 runs in 15 balls in the title clash. He also scored 287 runs in 11 innings at an average of 31.88 and a strike rate of over 136 down the order, scoring two half-centuries. Later in September 2010, Dhoni took a step ahead and conquered the worlwide franchise T20 league, the CLT20, beating South Africa's Warriors by eight wickets in the final by eight runs. Dhoni played the cameo of 17* in 12 balls, guiding the team to a win with his winning shot. Coming down the order, he scored 91 runs in five innings, staying unbeaten thrice. His batting average was 45.50 and best score was 31*. -Asia Cup 2010 Before the mega ODI World Cup challenge that was supposed to involve teams across the globe, the Men in Blue had a dress rehersal of sorts during the Asia Cup 2010 held in Sri Lanka, one of the co-hosts for cricket's marquee event next year. Dhoni's men secured their fifth title, beating Sri Lanka in the final by 81 runs, bundling them out for 187 runs during a run-chase of 269 runs. Dhoni played a valuable knock of 38 in 50 balls, with two fours and a six in the title clash. In four matches, Dhoni scored 173 runs at an average of 57.66, with a half-century. His best score was 56. -ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 After the Asia Cup came the biggest prize of them all. Dhoni's biggest challenge was to not let the pressure get better of him and help India live upto its reputation as an unbeatable home giant. India finally achieved that World Cup dream with Mahi's winning six on April 2 at Wankhede Stadium against Sri Lanka. This tournament was an unbelievable all-round effort from India, as there were so many stars. Sachin Tendulkar (482 runs) played his last World Cup like his life was dependent on it. Gautam Gambhir (393 runs), Virender Sehwag (380 runs), Yuvraj Singh (362 runsand 21 wickets), Virat Kohli (282 runs), MS Dhoni (241 runs), Zaheer Khan (21 wickets), Munaf Patel (11 wickets) and Harbhajan Singh (nine wickets), all stepped in when needed. (ANI)
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