Celebrating Captain Cool: 5 most iconic images of MS Dhoni

On the 7th of July, former Indian captain MS Dhoni will turn 39 years old. After making his debut as a long-haired youngster, the wicket-keeper has gone to become arguably India's greatest ever captain and undoubtedly the world's greatest ever finisher.

In a career than has spanned 16 years thus far, MS Dhoni has achieved everything there is to achieve. He has led India to all three ICC trophies, lifted the ICC Test mace for the first time in the country's history, and won the Indian Premier League (IPL) with the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on multiple occasions.

It is incredibly difficult to represent what has been a storied career in just a few images, but in this article, we attempt to rank the five most iconic pictures featuring MS Dhoni.

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#5 MS Dhoni collects the ICC Test mace

MS Dhoni led India to No. 1 on the Test rankings for the first time in history

The ICC Test Championship was introduced in 2001 and until MS Dhoni led his team to No. 1 on the Test rankings, the mace changed hands only between Australia and South Africa.

At the end of 2009, India defeated Sri Lanka 2-0 in a three-Test series to claim the ultimate longest-format honour, led by the then-28-year-old captain. In the process, MS Dhoni became the first-ever captain to take India to No. 1 on the Test rankings, an incredible feat considering the amount of criticism levelled at his technique in the early stages of his career.

After a distinguished Test career in which he became the only Indian wicket-keeper batsman to score a double century (a marauding 224 in Chennai), MS Dhoni retired from the longest format of the game during the 2014-15 tour of Australia.

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#4 MS Dhoni lifts the 2013 Champions Trophy

MS Dhoni lifts the 2013 Champions Trophy

When he won the 2013 ICC Champions Trophy in England, MS Dhoni became the first (and only) captain to lift all three ICC trophies, with the T20 World Cup and the 50-over World Cup being the other two.

In a rain-shortened final against the hosts, India triumphed by 4 runs in a game that had MS Dhoni written all over it.

After devising a cunning plan with Ravichandran Ashwin to remove Jonathan Trott, MS Dhoni made one of the best bowling changes of his career by bringing on Ishant Sharma to bowl the 18th over. The lanky pacer, who had been expensive until then, picked up the crucial wickets of Eoin Morgan and Ravi Bopara to lead India to their second Champions Trophy.

The scenes of MS Dhoni jumping up and down in joy after the final ball are still fresh in the minds of Indian fans and the image of him lifting the trophy against the backdrop of the gloomy English skies is etched in cricket history.

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#3 2007 T20 World Cup win

MS Dhoni celebrates the 2007 T20 WC win

In 2007, newly-appointed captain MS Dhoni-led India to victory in the first-ever T20 World Cup (then called the World T20) in South Africa. Riding on incredible performances by Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, and Yuvraj Singh, India reached the final of the tournament where they faced arch-rivals Pakistan.

In a game that is now the stuff of legend, the Indian skipper brought on Joginder Sharma to bowl the last over with 13 runs to defend and the set Misbah-ul-Haq at the crease. After a shaky start, Sharma bowled a deceptive slower ball that the Pakistan batsman could only scoop to Sreesanth at short fine-leg.

This win marked the beginning of the MS Dhoni era, and the picture of him with one glove off and his long hair blown back by the wind is as iconic as they come. Little did Indian fans know then that they would rarely see such forms of expression from Captain Cool.

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#2 MS Dhoni's 2011 World Cup-winning six

MS Dhoni-led India to the 2011 World Cup

Coming into the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent, the pressure was never higher on the Indian team led by MS Dhoni. They hadn't won a World Cup since the legendary Kapil Dev-led side in 1983, and the ignominious exit from the 2007 edition of the tournament was still fresh in Indian fans' minds.

MS Dhoni had an underwhelming campaign until the final, so when fans at the Wankhede Stadium saw him stride in before the would-be Man of the Tournament Yuvraj Singh, more than a few eyebrows were raised. But the Indian skipper went on to play perhaps the greatest World Cup innings of all time, scoring an unbeaten 91 to lift cricket's most prestigious trophy after a wait of 28 years.

The sight of him depositing Nuwan Kulasekara over the long-on boundary as Yuvraj holds his hands aloft is an image ingrained in every single cricket fan's mind. Ravi Shastri's greatest moment as a commentator only served to add to the emotional memory.

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#1 Lt. Col. MS Dhoni receives the Padma Bhushan

Lieutenant Colonel MS Dhoni receives the Padma Bhushan

Months after the aforementioned World Cup win, MS Dhoni was conferred the honorary rank of Lieutenant Colonel by the Indian Territorial Army.

On April 2, 2018, exactly 7 years after the 2011 World Cup win, Lieutenant Colonel MS Dhoni received India's third-highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan. He marched up to the dais in his army uniform to collect the award from President Ram Nath Kovind, becoming only the second Indian captain after Kapil Dev to receive the honour.

Dressed in the clothing of the armed forces of the country he had served (and continues to serve) for years, MS Dhoni cut a proud figure in what has undoubtedly been the most iconic image of his storied career so far.