"Beginning of Golden Era of Indian cricket"- Fans pay tribute to MS Dhoni on 19th anniversary of his international cricket debut

Today marks the 19th anniversary of Mahendra Singh Dhoni's international cricket debut. The legendary cricketer made his debut on December 23, 2004, in an ODI match against Bangladesh at MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong.

It wasn't a memorable start with the bat as he got run out for a one-ball duck, batting at the number 7 position.

Dhoni turned around his fortunes after an unfortunate start with a phenomenal 148 in an ODI against Pakistan in Vizag on April 5, 2005. There was no looking back after that as he steadily climbed through the ranks and became the captain in the next few years, establishing himself as leader of a new-look team which went on to conquer world cricket.

MS Dhoni went on to play 538 matches for India across formats and scored 17266 runs at an average of 44.96, including 16 centuries and 108 half-centuries. Incidentally, his international career ended in a similar way it began as he got run out in the semi-final of the 2019 World Cup against New Zealand.

Fans paid tribute to MS Dhoni for a celebrated career on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of his international cricket debut. Here are some of the reactions on X:

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"I’ve so many things to worry about in my own team"- MS Dhoni's interesting reply to an RCB fan

An ardent Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) fan requested MS Dhoni to help the Bengaluru-based side win their maiden IPL trophy. The 42-year-old cricketer responded with his usual calm demeanour. Dhoni said:

“You know, they are a very good team but also what you need to see is in cricket everything doesn’t go according to plan. So, if you’re talking about IPL, all the 10 teams, more often than not, if they have the full players, all of them are very strong teams. The problem arises if you’re missing a few players because of injury or reasons like that. So, they are a very good team and everybody has a fair chance in IPL."

He added:

“As of now, I’ve so many things to worry about in my own team. So, I would like to wish every team all the very best but more than that, I can’t really do much as of now because imagine me trying to come out of the way or to support or help some other team, how will our fans feel?”

What is your favorite moment of Dhoni's international career? Let us know in the comments section below.