5 reasons why MS Dhoni was India's most loved captain

#4 Leading from the front

It has been documented and discussed enough, but will be reiterated - Dhoni’s decision to promote himself up the order, and to perform on the biggest stage despite misfiring throughout the tournament goes to show the tenacity and mental toughness of the person to thrive despite the chips being down.

Dhoni is one of the few players who revelled as a batsman while captaining a side, averaging 44.23 as a non-captain and 53.93 at the helm of affairs. He changed his game for the team, employing a more calculated approach and surrendering his gung-ho attitude with the bat.

As a captain, he had the liberty to bring himself up the order, but he rarely treated himself to such an opportunity, staying buried under the middle order and giving lesser known faces the platform to shine when the going was easy. He won the Man of the Match in 15 of the 199 ODIs he played, the fourth most by any captain.

More than all of that, it was his ability to saunter into the middle and tonk bowlers for sixes effortlessly that made him the darling of the crowd and a nightmare for international bowlers, who reprised the role of gully cricketers when faced with Dhoni’s batting exploits.