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When MSD Captained India For The First Time: The Start Of An Impeccable Legacy

image-lmiucrdnMS Dhoni with his teammates - Gambhir & Uthappa

Exactly 16 years back on this day, India's most decorated captain, MS Dhoni, walked out with the team sheet for the first time. Since then, his legacy has been unparalleled. In the absence of the big dogs, Dhoni led the Men in Blue for the first time in India's first game of the inaugural T20 World Cup, held in South Africa back in 2007.

It was the very game that had the famous bowl-out between arch-rivals - India and Pakistan. Batting first at the Kingsmead, India lost a couple of wickets early; however, Robin Uthappa and MSD revived the innings, before cameos from Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar took the team to a respectable score of 141. 

In the latter half of the game, the young Indian bowling troop marched together and didn't allow the Pakistan batter to chase the total, despite Misbah-ul-Haq's riveting 35-ball 53. 

As the scores were equal after the two innings, the match into a bowl-out, where the likes of Mohammad Asif, Umar Gul and Shahid Afridi bowled deliveries at perfect line and length, but alas neither of them could end up hitting the woods.

Meanwhile, the Men in Blue had put in hard yards for this very bowl-out, and executed their plans like anything. Even the part-timers - Virender Sehwag and Uthappa aced the bowl-out, as India ended with three on three. One of the three balls was delivered by the veteran Harbhajan Singh.



MS's captaincy era began with a bang as he knew what the future holds for him. Ten days later he led India for an emphatic World T20 Win, the team snatched the victory from the jaws of the defeat. This win somehow helped the nation to overcome humiliating exit from the World Cup earlier that year. A young brigade under MS created history. 

In the aftermath, the BCCI handed over the ODI captaincy to him as well in the coming series against Australia at home. And the MS Dhoni midas touch worked like a charm for Indian cricket as the Men in Blue went onto win the illustrious World Cup and Champions Trophy in the next six years under the shrewd captaincy of MSD.