Celebrating Captain Cool: 5 most iconic images of MS Dhoni

#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.