5 best ODI wins under MS Dhoni

Arguably the greatest captain ever to have taken over the mantle of the Indian cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni emerged from a small town Ranchi and marched into folklore. With his awe-inspiring skills on the field and a captaincy career which spanned 10 years, the 36-year-old has given plenty of joyous moments to the Indian fans.

Winning matches is one thing, forging personalities, stamping a philosophy and then taking the team along is something else. Dhoni was a leader, both on and off the field.

Dhoni captained India in 199 ODIs and won 110 matches with a win percentage of 55.28.

Here in this list, we take a look at five of India’s greatest wins under Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

#5 India vs Sri Lanka, Asia Cup final 2010

This was the phase when the Indian team were stepping away from their abysmal records in tournament finals.

Back in 2010, the final of the Asia Cup was played at Dambulla, Sri Lanka. India won the toss and batted first on a good flat surface. After a relatively sedate start, Dinesh Karthik and MS Dhoni stitched together a solid stand as India reached 268/6 in their 50 overs.

And then, the Indian pacers stepped up and blew away the Sri Lankan top order as they were reduced to 51 runs for 5 wickets at one stage. A valiant half-century by Chamara Kapugedara only reduced the margin of defeat as the Indian team won the contest by 81 runs.

This was what Dhoni said at the end of the match, “The guys put in a lot of effort in terms of fitness and skill. This is an ideal reflection of that. Nice to win the Asia cup. We were happy to get 270 runs. We wanted to get Dilshan out quickly and the bowlers bowled really well. Once you are in a final and if you don’t win then what you did before that (in the tournament) doesn't matter. I expected that pitch will do a bit later. I know my bowlers. So I decided to bat. On his five dismissals: Thanks to the bowlers. They created the opportunities."

#4 India vs South Africa, Johannesburg 2010

It was South Africa’s match to lose and they made a mess of an easy chase, tripped, stumbled and failed.

Batting first, India were bundled out for 190 well before their 50 overs and were on the mat.

South Africa were cruising along and they were within touching distance of the target when they froze and slipped away.

From being 152 for 4, they were knocked over for 189 in an unbelievable collapse. Munaf Patel was the wrecker-in-chief for the visitors as he picked up four wickets.

This is what Dhoni said at the end of the match, "It's a big win for us. We were short of 40-45 runs. We got slow but a good start. Yuvraj got out just before we were about to take the powerplay. Then we had to postpone it. Then when we took it, Raina fell on the first ball. Harbhajan's role was crucial. When Bhaji came they decided not to take him on and lost a bit of momentum. Munaf has been bowling well for us in the last 10-20 games he has played. The part-timers also have bowled well. Yuvraj is our main batsman at no 4. He can dictate terms. Once he crosses 10-15 runs, you can see that he bats fantastically. Two gone, three more to go; we are expecting some tough cricket."

#3 India vs England, Champions Trophy Finals, 2013

It all boiled down to a contest between the form team of the tournament India and the hosts England for the all-important finals of Champions Trophy in Birmingham.

However, rain was a scourge for the entire day when the ICC decided to curtail the match to a 20-over a side affair.

India batted first and they limped away to a score of 129 in their 20 overs, thanks mainly to a 43-runs innings by Virat Kohli.

England were fairly comfortable in the chase when Dhoni pulled out his own bag of tricks. He persisted with Ishant Sharma and got the reward as the lanky pacer picked up Ravi Bopara and Eoin Morgan.

And then came his spinners to close out the game as India won the game by five runs.

Ravindra Jadeja was the Man of the Match as he picked up two wickets in his four overs.

This is what Dhoni said at the end of the match, "When we were batting I just said get close to 130. The shower helped us because the ball was gripping later on. It's important to be positive. I said 'we are the No. 1-ranked team, let's play like that'. I knew the two-overs of Powerplay were crucial. I wanted to make them slog off the spinners. They all handled the pressure really well, in international cricket people talk about technique but it's the ones that deal with the pressure."

#2 India vs Australia, CB Series Finals, 2008

India broke the Australian hoodoo back in 2008 when they shrugged the hosts in two successive matches; the first final in Sydney, and the second final in Brisbane.

After winning the first final at the Sydney Cricket Ground, a buoyed Indian team batted first in Brisbane and once again it was Sachin Tendulkar who took matters in his own hands as he played a special innings of 91 runs which helped the visitors get to a formidable score of 259.

Australia never got going during their chase barring a partnership between Matthew Hayden and Andrew Symonds. Once they were separated, India walked all over the hosts and won the game by nine runs and thus clinching the trophy.

This is what Dhoni said at the end of the match, "It's the toughest conditions out here. The way we improved our batting and backing each other was an important point. The way Sachin started the last few matches was at the right time. It's really good to have a team that's performing. It doesn't get better than this, beating the top side in the world."

#1 India vs Sri Lanka, World Cup finals 2011, Mumbai

Perhaps the greatest match for MS Dhoni, for Sachin Tendulkar, for Yuvraj Singh, and for all the team members was played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Batting first, Sri Lanka posted a challenging 274 runs in their 50 overs on the back of a terrific century by Mahela Jayawardene.

India did not get off to an entirely bright start and lost Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag for only 31 runs.

However, as if it was all scripted, captain Dhoni played the innings of his life and along with Gautam Gambhir pushed India very close to victory.

Gambhir was dismissed for 97, Dhoni held the stage and that final six which sealed the deal for India saw him remain unbeaten on 91.

This is what Dhoni said at the end of this match, "I took a quite few decisions tonight, if we hadn't won I would have been asked quite a few questions: Why no Ashwin, Why Sreesanth. Why no Yuvraj, Why did I bat ahead?! That pushed me and motivated to do well. The pressure had got to me in the previous games. In this game, I wanted to bat up the order and Gary backed me and by the senior players. I had a point to prove to myself. Virat and Gautam batted brilliantly; lots of singles. Then with the help of bit of dew, we put pressure on the spinners. I would have liked Gautam to go on and get that big hundred."